


Seven Devils

by HotPinkWriter



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crimes & Criminals, Deconstruction, F/M, Family, Gen, Humor, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-06 23:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 52,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12221226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HotPinkWriter/pseuds/HotPinkWriter
Summary: Decades ago, a noble vigilante system rose, overtaking the previous police system that belonged to the powerful Uchiha clan. Now, in a modern city setting, Squad Seven—Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Sai—work as Purgers: a mix of police and crime scene investigators. Their Alpha the judge, jury, and executioner.One night, an entire and rival group to the Purge is massacred and the evidence is pointing at one of the investigation's own members… Chaos ensues as questions are raised and the organization that holds the city itself is threatening to break apart. Squad Seven must clear the case before the Purge is indefinitely brought down and more are overtaken by demons, both physical and non...A (mostly) REAL TIME . Seven demons, seven days. The rabbit hole deepens and the Purge will never be the same again.





	1. THE PROLOGUE

 

**DISCLAIMER:**

_I am only typing this once for this story: I do not own Naruto or its characters. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha. Support the official release._

* * *

**ON YAOI:**

_**I DO**_ _ **NOT**_   _ **DO IT. NO**_ _._

 _Let me repeat myself for the people who get super defensive over the slightest inclination of closeness. Hey. Hey, guys. You can be close without being lovers. *gasp!* Really? Yeah, really. I write the two as they came off to me in canon. Toward the end they were bros. I will not tolerate overly sensitive people ranting to me because they can't grasp that concept and think I'm writing freaking yaoi or something. No._  I do not ship them _. But I do not bash others for doing so either._

* * *

**THE STORY:**

Decades ago, a noble vigilante system rose, overtaking the previous police system that belonged to the powerful Uchiha clan. Now, in a modern city setting, Squad Seven—Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Sai—work as Purgers: a mix of police and crime scene investigators. Their Alpha the judge, jury, and executioner.

One night, an entire and rival group to the Purge is massacred and the evidence is pointing at one of the investigation's own members… Chaos ensues as questions are raised and the organization that holds the city itself is threatening to break apart. Squad Seven must clear the case before the Purge is indefinitely brought down and more are overtaken by demons, both physical and non...

A (mostly) REAL TIME . Seven demons, seven days. The rabbit hole deepens and the Purge will never be the same again. Slight deconstruction and heck of a love-letter to a series I love...This is my last pre-Next Gen romp. It was also one of my firsts as well, back in 2013...

* * *

**THE WORLD:**

_This is not set in the real world but based off both the real world and the world of Naruto, but with core Naruto aspects converted in it._

_I will also write dates that go against the format that fellow US-dwellers are usually used to. Why? Because the US is an oddball with the metric unit and the typical date format. (MDY, rather than DMY) I live in the US but for this story am going to try adapting to certain formats, so, dear US-dwellers, the date is first, then the month. Do not let this confuse you when it's October and I'm suddenly slapping a small number before the 10._

* * *

**THE PLAYLIST:**

_These are songs I either feel match themes in various chapters or for characters, or just songs that I listened to while writing and they kind of help set me in the right mood. But be warned, that mood changes drastically throughout this story so the Spotify playlist kind of goes all over the place as well._

_I really don't pay attention to current songs or who's popular much. I just listen to whatever I discover at random and feel like. If you have any recommendations for songs to add to the playlist, let me know._

_Here's the link, just replace the word "DOT" with periods and remove the spaces._

open DOT spotify DOT com /user / shaxra15 / playlist / 6uFpHjS8Ty9L3djK1noSv6

 _If it makes it easier for people on their phones, the Playlist is called_ **Seven Devils Playlist by shaxra15** _._

_It does include a few "explicit" songs but I did not feel their inclusion was gratuitous. Spotify has them marked with an "E" if you feel the need to skip._

**Anyway, this is the chapter I'm telling you to cue up a specific song RIGHT AWAY: Lesley Gore's _You Don't Own Me_  (Suicide Remix).**

**Aaaaaaand...You guys ready? This is going to be a ride, a fast one. And NOW!**

* * *

**DATE POSTED: 29/9/17**

* * *

**SEVEN DEVILS**

**PROLOGUE**

* * *

The temperature was a crisp four degrees Celsius.

Not too bad. Until you'd spent more than an hour strung up in a butcher shop, listening to some Akatsuki gang member go on and on...About money, right down to the decimal point.

God have mercy. The torture.

Naruto shifted, eyes close to bleeding out of their sockets from the sheer boredom. You'd think being chained and suspended from a meat hook after being "kidnapped" by an Akatsuki mercenary would get the adrenaline pumping through your veins, but no. Kakuzu just droned on. Yadda yadda yadda. Money, money, money. Add stereotypical bad guy laugh.

Okay, he didn't really do the laugh.

But he might as well have.

"You see," the man spoke confidently, his strange reddened eyes shimming from under his grey hood. "In the end, it's all about the indisputable might of money. That is why you, a so-called  _Purger,_  are here and not nestled in the comfort of your self-righteous headquarters."

Naruto's eyes briefly met one of the guards.

Five, no, four guards.  _Four_. Armed.

All of them wore matching and indistinguishable coats and hats. Threatening, maybe, keeping him guard—no smart stuff the big guy had said—but still mere grunts. Only  _real_ members who you needed to worry about got to wear the trademark coat of the Akatsuki's. Black hooded things with red zippers and lining, embellished with the cloud crest on the back. Kakuzu brandished his with surprising pride. Then again, hardly anyone who wasn't an official Akatsuki got an S-Rank from the Purge's criminal rating system.

"Black market, huh?" Naruto scoffed, shifting a bit. His hands were beginning to go numb. Which was a bit problematic. A standard set of cuffs would have been better, but Kakuzu must have improvised and used whatever was already at the butcher shop to keep him at his mercy, a length of chain and old padlock. "You really think no one's gonna look for me?"

"Oh, they'll find something," Kakuzu said, pointing to one of the skinned animals hanging behind him. "A body so charred it can't be identified."

An Akatsuki ring glittered from his finger. Naruto caught a line of stitches around his arm under his coat sleeve and knew he had a heck of a lot more stitches than that. Cripes was this guy a masochist's wet dream. Scratch that, his partner, Hidan, was, but lucky for everyone in the city, that lunatic was in a padded cell right now back at Purge Headquarters, where this guy should be too.

No one in the Purge would be forgiving Hidan anytime soon after he'd killed one of their officers, Asuma. Not only had he done it, he'd been blatantly proud about it. Seems his partner was trying to go the cover-it-up route to protect himself from the same fate.

"I don't think a dead cow is going to fool anyone, genius," Naruto scoffed.

"I never said it would be an animal. Merely that we're all made of the same stuff. Blood, muscles, the  _heart_." A dark finger poked at his chest.

 _Um, yeah, get that tentacle digit away from me._ Naruto shifted and Kakuzu turned back to the carcass.

"This animal, perhaps a cow, or big pig. Spliced open, burned beyond recognition, they make no difference. A body's a body."

"One," Naruto said, "A substitute body, even human, still wouldn't fool our lab techs. What do you think this is, the dark ages? And two, you'd really be doing yourself in. Kidnapping's one thing. Killing's another. You'd think you would have learned that after we caught your partner."

"I kill when it's worth my time and the effort of clean up. And this one was.  _You_."

"Why me?" Naruto asked. "I'm just  _one_  Purger. So why single me out specifically? Wouldn't we all have people out for us, willing to fork some dough out?"

Who knows how much the underworld would be willing to pay to take individual Purge members out. Acting as Konoha's law enforcement and rehabilitation, the Purge had gained a lot of personal enemies since its founding decades ago. No one in the city didn't  _not_  know its name, its mark. They had the city's respect and the criminals' fear. There would be no bribery that could get them their way anymore. No more threats to a jury. No corruption or blackmail. No. The Purge had set itself into place and stood its ground as the city's new incorruptible law enforcement.

He briefly mused what the price was for Ibiki's head, the Purge's head interrogator.

Still, it didn't explain why Kakuzu had singled Naruto out specifically. Compared to just about everybody else who worked for the Purge, Naruto was literally a nobody. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't raised into this life. Didn't have parents who worked for the system. It was a miracle he'd even been accepted into what was essentially a very tight-knit group of high standards. The cog of a well-established clock.

"Not sure why but you're the most valuable," Kakuzu continued, arms crossing. "Tailing you was easy, capturing you was even easier. These people must be out of their minds."

Naruto fought the urge to spit out that tailing him had been easy only because he had  _let_  him once he'd become aware that he was being tracked.

The man grinned. Well, Naruto suspected he was, kind of hard with his mask. He kept his mouth covered with a thick cloth. "Let's just say your head's worth a lot on the black market. Astounding price, actually. Got men who are going to pick you up before the shop opens. They said they wanted you alive. Surely, for some use. Otherwise, you  _would_  be  _dead_  right now."

It was rumored that Kakuzu had a heart tattooed on his chest for every life he directly took. If Naruto was being transferred into a third party's hands, Kakuzu would miss out on another heart.

 _Poor_  thing.

" _Ah_ ," Naruto deadpanned. "Who exactly are you trying to sell me to?"

Again, a sneer-like expression came over him, the skin between his eyebrows bunching up. "I've already said too much. Now be quiet."

He grinned mischievously." _Yeah_ , I don't do quiet."

Kakuzu proceeded to look to one of his imps who then took it upon themselves to smack Naruto with the end of their gun. Naruto grimaced. "Ow."

The guard then took his spot, positioning himself behind Kakuzu.

Shifting again Naruto squeezed his fists, trying to get feeling back in them. His arms were hurting as well "You aren't going to get away with this you know."

Cliché, he knew. But at this point, he was stalling. Numb hands wouldn't do.

"Here's what you don't understand,  _officer_ , I already have. It's too late for help." Again, Naruto got the sense he was smirking under his covering. No doubt thinking of the money Naruto's head was apparently worth. He was almost flattered it was enough to warrant this greedy creep's special attention. "The supposed mighty have fallen."

Naruto curled his fingers once more before extending two out. He scoffed. "That's not how this is."

"Then tell me, runt, how is this in those deluded eyes of yours."

Naruto lowered his middle finger.  _One._

"A  _trust_  fall. Completely different thing, ugly."

A nasty chuckle crept from the man's throat "The only thing you can count on in this world to catch you is money and last I checked, you're alone and poor."

He'd said "poor" as if it was some disease. And  _alone_?

Rule number one in this city? Never tick a Purger off. Number two? Especially if their family  _is_ the Purge.

Naruto smirked and curled his pointer.  _Zero._

"Hey Sasuke," he called. "I think I'm ready now! I got him to say quite a bit."

"What?!"

" _Yeah_ , Sasuke's kinda been recording your monologuing for me like the  _whole_  time." He couldn't help gloating. He really couldn't.

Scarcely before Kakuzu could turn around, the facade of the fifth armed guard was shattered as Sasuke pulled out his gun and pressed it to the back of the man's skull. "Everyone to your knees!" he called, voice loud with authority.

Kakuzu was utterly still, his eyes scanning Sasuke. Somewhere along the transition, Sasuke had ripped the coat off to improve his mobility. A badge listened at his hip. His breathing was even, his hand steady. "You're under arrest for kidnapping."

In the other hand, his fist was a small gadget.

Kakuzu let out a panicked and frustrated snarl. "Get the device! One grand to the man who does!" Within seconds the surrounding men began to break formations, whipping out their own guns. Kakuzu was ducking out of the way just as one made to strike Sasuke's arm.

Sasuke knocked the incoming imp out with a roundhouse kick to his throat and was already twisting around to punch the second, aiming straight for the gun in their hand. When caught in a fight with guns, the first priority was to take care of the other firearms. The man's was knocked from his hand and clattering to the ground already. Another quickly followed.

"Just give me a minute!" Naruto called, struggling with getting out of his suspended position. "Start without me!"

"Sure," Sasuke spat, tone both sarcastic and angry as he parried an attack. "After you had to announce that I was recording it!"

Okay, maybe Naruto should have kept that to himself until  _after_  Kakuzu had been taken care of. But there was no going back now.

The third guard lunged for him. He swung his feet forward, attaching to them with a grunt and a heave. Using the momentum and his footing, he propelled himself up and off the hook. Flipping over its hold he landed on the cold floor, groaning. He didn't have time to recover before the grunt had turned himself around, enraged and ready to pummel him.

Smirking, Naruto grabbed hold of the chain still at his hands and looped it over the man's neck just as he barreled toward him. The man struggled against his hold and it took every ounce of Naruto's control to make sure he wasn't choked to death.

Thrashing for oxygen, the goon buckled and Naruto's back slammed into the concrete floor. Cursing, he rolled the guy off as they continued to struggle. Naruto kept the upper hand, keeping him at his length.

"Okay, buddy, gonna need ya to go to sleep!"

Like a fish flopping, the man fought against Naruto's hold until he could no more and went limp, finally unconscious.

Before he could be assailed again, Naruto ducked through the chaos and skidded to the side, where he began to wrestle with the lock at his wrists, still binding them. He moved furiously, taking a makeshift lock pick via paperclip and began fitting it into the lock, trying to twist the tumblers inside.

All around him the three men fighting still were grunting or knocking into things. Sasuke wasn't usually so noisy, then again he was outnumbered.

Cursing, Naruto twisted harder at the lock. "Stupid clip!"

A man flew towards him head first, crashing into the metal cabinet with a loud slam. Naruto rolled to the side, pulling the gun from his hands. "Thanks!"

The fifth guard Sasuke had replaced and stolen his clothes from crashed through the door, expression lit with furry. Sasuke and Naruto's eyes briefly locked and Naruto nodded.  _Let's do this._

Screw the chain, he could improvise.

"Sasuke!" He ran towards him and Sasuke grabbed his arms, swinging him so his feet slammed into the man's stomach. They crashed into the wall. Apparently not hard enough though. Naruto took a hit before he ducked down, and swung his chain at their ankles. They tripped and he assailed them with his fists. "Stay down!"

They collapsed, groaning. A pair of cuffs slid across the floor and he grabbed them and cuffed the man to a table. That made all five of Kakuzu's men that were either incapacitated or unconscious, all sprawled out on the floor with minor injuries. One in his briefs.

Five down, one last one to go.

"Hands to the back of your head!" Naruto roared, pointing the gun at Kakuzu. Kakuzu stood between him and the Uchiha, frozen and obviously debating on his next move. Either take on the both of them and hope he can destroy the evidence...or flee. From his position, the door to the shop was several feet away and blocked by a metal table.

Kakuzu knew though that evidence was  _everything._

"I said," Naruto growled, enunciating very slowly, "hands to the back of your head or you're going to enjoy walking with a limp for a while."

A cold aura seemed to emit from the man as he glared at Naruto, eyes narrowed. His eyebrows drew down into a calculating and snide smirk. "We all know you haven't fired a gun in a  _very_  long time."

Like he wanted, it was already creeping under Naruto's skin. His hands began to shake.

"You were cursed with blood on your hands from the beginning," he continued, slowly.

Sasuke looked to Naruto with an almost concerned expression.

"SHUT UP!"

"We all have our dark pasts. As for me, I'm not looking to change it. And I'm not going back to that dump."

He lunged toward Naruto, grabbing hold of him by the chain dangling from his wrists, and yanked on it hard. Naruto had to hold back a scream from the flaring pain that shot up in his muscles. He was jerked forward, the gun slipping from his grip and next thing he knew he was flying into Sasuke. They collided into each other, falling to the floor.

Kakuzu made a run for it, kicking the weapon while he was at it. It slid under a counter, becoming lost.

"Get off me!" Sasuke jerked upward, shoving Naruto to the side. Shots rang, the gloss of Sasuke's handgun flashing.

Recoil.

Smoke.

The sprinklers started going off.

Sasuke hadn't just used any bullets, no, he'd used one of his custom ones that were created to pack a punch, become extra heated at the barrel, ignited at muzzle. Only for special occasions of course.

Caught off guard, Kakuzu slid, shoes losing their traction with the now wet flooring. Sasuke was already going after him again, another set of handcuffs ready. A cart slid across the floor with his direction, he leaped off it and at Kakuzu, catching him. They crashed.

And like that, it was over.

While Sasuke handled the money-obsessed creep, Naruto sat, waiting for the pain in his shoulders to subside, shivering.

Seconds later, the clatter of magazine switching, the cock and a bullet zipped by, hot and electric.

Naruto's heart felt like it'd jumped out of his chest at the noise. He looked to Sasuke, eyes wide and angry.

"You could have shot my freaking hand!" Naruto screamed, jerking the chain off, the padlock blown to smithereens. The chains clattered to the floor, easing the weight at his hands.

Sasuke approached him, smirking. "I don't miss."

"And now that you officially opened gunfire, the  _whole_  town knows we're here. Whoever Kakuzu made a deal with will avoid this place like the plague—AND you bent my paperclip. I would have gotten myself free otherwise."

It became quiet, nothing made a sound except for the water coming down from the sprinklers. Naruto got to his feet, and stood, rubbing his wrists.

 Sasuke, noticing, raised a brow. "You okay?"

"That  _freak_! Using a chain, a freaking  _chain_!" He would have bruises by morning.

Sasuke scoffed, giving him a good hard look. "Do you have a preference to how criminals bind you or something?"

Naruto answered shockingly without hesitation. "Yeah. Stuff that, like the great Houdini, I can get out of. You know, like handcuffs!"

The Uchiha stared at him a solid minute before shaking his head.

"Whatever. Let's just get this place situated."

They were both soaking wet and the sprinklers weren't going to stop on their own. Not for a while at least and water was the last thing they wanted. It was bad enough Sasuke had put holes in the ceiling. And the metal interior had just gotten dented. Yeah, the shopkeepers weren't going to be happy and that, in turn, made the Alpha unhappy.

* * *

Naruto had just found the control to the sprinkler system when he saw a lump sprawled on the floor. It was in a sectioned off area, mostly concealed by shadow and hanging carcasses. Big. He flipped the nearby light switch, illuminating the area. He could sense Sasuke come behind him, also staring at the lump.

A tarp was sprawled out and covered by blood. And he doubted it was from an animal.

Naruto swallowed, his heart stopping, mid-beat.

"That's a lot of blood. Too much."

Someone had bled out here. The puddle of dark crimson was huge...

_It was a special day for him, a chance to go with the Purge on a legit big case, even a personal one! He was giddy with excitement. Gonna save the day, save the victim! It was this comic book scenario he had always dreamed of._

_Then things had to go horrifically wrong._

Sasuke stared at him, mouth partially open as if he wanted to say something but didn't.

_There was a great pool of blood._

_He was standing there, looking in horror at the pool. The body_

_..._

_Then heat, heat all around him._

_A cry and shove._

Sasuke pushed on his shoulder. "Naruto."

Naruto shook his head. Cold air surrounded him. Crisp and affirming.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that."

"It could belong to the substitute body."

"Yeah."

He kneeled over the tarp, taking a deep breath. There was a bloodied white scarf to the side as if it had fallen. Caught on it was an ID card. Perhaps from a struggle. Or it had fallen off after one. "There's an ID here."

He slowly picked the bloodstained card up. The name was long, started with a B, and he doubted the man went by it. Seemed like a nickname-guy from the picture on it. He was a muscular man, seemed to have a fun air about him by the smile he gave. Much too big for what was supposed to be a casual picture for the purposes of identification. Dark skin, unnaturally light hair. Goatee. A few tattoos. There was a blue horn on his cheek that Naruto didn't recognize. Maybe it meant something, maybe not.

Naruto tilted his head, noticing a tattoo on the shoulder as well. "That Chinese?"

"Japanese," Sasuke said, squinting at the picture, his head tilting slightly. "Kanji for iron."

"Iron? Think he's from the Kumo District?"

"Definitely."

"That's Purge's jurisdiction, right?" Naruto said. "Don't want an Uchiha getting antsy with jurisdiction again." He paused. "No offense."

Disputes between the Purge and the Uchiha who used to be prominent in a traditional judicial gig when it was still around were at an all-time high. While the city had long welcomed the new and absolute system that focused itself on both crime, investigation, and emphasized rehabilitation, the Uchiha hadn't been willing to give up their post and police station that now remained nearly inoperative even within its own borders. So now days they focused mostly on security, sometimes worked as private investigators. But they were really mostly glorified bodyguards anymore.

That Sasuke would be working with the Purge instead of with his established and renowned clan was nearly unheard of. He was the only one outside his brother to do so. And it didn't help the relationship with their father any.

"No. None of that," Sasuke answered. He pulled out his phone and began dialing.

"Kakashi?"

Sasuke was the only one to refuse to call their captain by his official title. And everyone else for that matter.

"We're going to need someone from the identification division. Yeah, have Sai bring his camera. We've got a crime scene. A lot of blood and six suspects, one of which is part of the Akatsuki. Yes. I'll go ahead and send Sakura the audio from Kakuzu."

A pause.

"The lead I told you about was correct. He's okay."

Naruto grimaced. "You knew I was being tailed before I told you, didn't you?"

Sasuke shrugged, slipping his phone into his pocket.

"How long?"

"Longer than you."

_Cripes, Sasuke._

"Well next time something like this happens, you can be the freaking sheep!"

"Alright." Sasuke smirked. "I'll be sure to relay that next time I catch her spying on you."

"WHAT?!"

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

Outside the sun had just sunk and the moon glared at him, its stars beginning to penetrate the sky. Night would be upon them soon with all her darkness and silent secrets.

Naruto waited outside, watching the window as Squad Seven processed the scene. Kakuzu had said people would pick him up in the morning but since Sasuke had opened fire, any outsider would have been alerted of the Purge's involvement, making this case a temporary dead end. Kakuzu wouldn't talk. Not unless he was promised freedom and paid off. But the days of bribery, even tactics at times, were forever gone.

Inside the restaurant, he could spot the outline of Kakashi quickly by his wild hair. See him in the window...

' _You were cursed with blood on your hands from the beginning.'_

He frowned and closed his eyes.

_The men were arguing. The door had a window, covered by thin paper. He could see their outlines, one of which had wild hair. Hair that seemed to defy the laws of gravity. They were face to face. Angry._

_He could hear the younger of the two. "This is_ exactly  _why we don't bring trainee minors_   _on the field!"_

" _It was just an initiation. The Alpha cleared it!"_

" _Did she clear the gun, huh?!" There was a slam as something clattered to the desk. "He nearly_ killed  _him!"_

" _And I would have taken full responsibility."_

_A scoff. "When have you ever taken responsibility for him, huh?"_

_A clatter. A chair, fallen._

" _Yamato, I highly suggest you keep a proper tone with your superior."_

_It went dead silent._

_The slam of the door as Yamato left. His angry eye briefly met a then fifteen Naruto's and softened._

" _I'm...I'm sorry you had to...To go through this, kid. The only comfort I can give you is advice, don't step foot here again."_

Naruto blinked.

"You're in trouble, mister."

"Captain," he stuttered, coming to attention.

Kakashi didn't look happy.

Like Kakuzu, his captain and one of the Purge's best detectives was known to keep his mouth hidden. Sometimes it was a scarf. Most days it was covered by a medical mask. It wouldn't have been a big deal if he'd just lower it once in a while. But he never did. It only roused suspicions and made itself a fun topic of interest at headquarters. Did he suffer from constant nosebleeds? Have big lips? How the heck did he drink or eat? 

Who knew, he was a mystery.

He stood before him now, wearing a dark jacket and green vest. He had a wild bulk of silver hair that oddly did not portray his age at all. He was only old enough, Naruto supposed, to be his father and not his grandfather like his hair color might falsely lead others to believe. He did have a disability, if it could be called that, a blind eye, or rather a socket with a glass ball which he kept covered with an eyepatch. You could still see the scar running down his face under it.

He didn't talk about it and no one asked. It was just that kind of relationship. While there was superiority, they also retained an odd closeness, almost like that of a family. Squad Seven was an unusually close but big one.

Teams were comprised of one or two officers, a crime-laboratory technician, and a detective as a captain. Sai would sometimes join if there was a crime scene involved. He'd be there, sketching and taking pictures. He made some of the best constructs on their computers, replicating the crime scenes right down to the speck of dirt that could be the key to breaking the case.

Sai and Sakura were still inside, taking care of things now, with Sakura trying to find more evidence. She was standing in front of a row of carcasses, trying to find any sign of a possible blood splatter, trying to place the death there. Trying to figure out where and how the body left. Sasuke was changing out of his wet clothes and getting the car. Being only officers, sometimes they got to leave before the others.

Kakashi had come outside to talk to him. All these years later and he was apart of the Legend's squad. Who would have thunk?

"You could have been killed. Not to mention you failed to notify the Purge of your intentions."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Forgive me, there wasn't exactly a lot of time to be like, hey, one of the Akatsuki's tailing me. But he doesn't know I have a roommate tailing him too. It was a plan made on the fly. And it worked. We got him spilling his guts  _and_  apprehended. To a cell it is. I recommend the fourth block."

Kakashi shook his head. "Tsunade's going to pitch a fit."

Tsunade was the head of it all. Alpha of the Purge Operations and as such, partner to the current mayor. An elderly lady who somehow had the spunk of a twenty-year-old. If you didn't know any better and were tricked by her attempts to retain her youthful appearance with surgery and makeup you'd think she  _was_  twenty years old. She was fierce too. Last time an operative had gotten her mad, she had literally broken her desk in half.

"Hey, everyone came out alright."

"So the blood—"

"Would you just look at the time!" Naruto handed him the blanket. "If you don't mind, I'm very tired and need to go home. Don't worry, my statements already been taken care of."

Sasuke had pulled the car up.

"Naruto—" Kakashi called but Naruto had already closed the door.

"We're not done yet!"

"See you later!"

Okay, he was avoiding him. So what.

As Sasuke's dark blue car pulled away, Naruto fidgeted in his seat.

"Hey, where's my Kyuubi?"

"For the last time, it is a gun, not some pet to name."

"You're just jealous because my special Rasengan bullets are cooler than your fire-starters."

Sasuke shook his head. "The bullets don't have names either, you tard."

"They do if I say so. Besides." Naruto picked his revolver from the dashboard, where Sasuke had apparently stashed it for safekeeping before Naruto had been "taken".

On its frame, a nine-tailed fox was etched into its surface. Naruto traced it briefly, smiling softly to himself. A creature of myth. Known to be mischievous. He could think of no better persona.

"This came from one of the founders. The fourth Alpha of the Purge. Then it went to Jiraiya. Godfather then gave it to me before...Before that mission. Now I have it." He smiled. "This gun is a freaking legacy in itself. So if I want to call it the Kyuubi, I can call it the Kyuubi."

"Hmp. Loser."

"Bas—Oh! Hang on, someone's calling." Naruto wrestled around in the dashboard again, this time pulling his cell phone out.

"Yeah?"

" _You left before we were done, Naruto."_

Kakashi.

Sighing, Naruto leaned back against the seat, dampening the material. "I know but today's been very...tiring. My arms are about to fall off. Like seriously, suspension trauma, man."

" _That's your own fault, Naruto. But we'll talk about it later."_

"Lecture me then, Cap, until then, retiring. Got a short vacation to get to and all. R and R."

By short vacation, he really meant just a few days, personal hours really. He would be back the following Wednesday.

" _I'm serious, you're doing every sheet of the paperwork first thing when you get back."_

"Yeah, yeah."

" _And Naruto...I know how when the Akatsuki's involved, it feels personal. But it's been—"_

"Look, Kakashi, I appreciate your concern but I'm fine. It's history, we all know that...Justice was, is absolute. I got it, alright?"

There was a pause. Alway a pause.

_Naruto was sitting in the hallway still, eyes watching the door to Kakashi's office closely._

_A few minutes later, he was summoned._

_He wiped the tears from his face and glanced to the side._

_His godfather gave a reassuring nod. "What happens, happens. You'll be okay."_

_On the desk, a gun bagged as evidence glistened. He could not take his eyes off the weapon for a moment._

_Kakashi sat behind his desk, fingers interlocked. Naruto noticed the scar under his eyepatch for the first time and wondered how he got it. Wondered if he got it while on a case as a Purger._

_He wondered if he would ever get another chance again. His fears were dissolved in a matter of a few sentences by the head detective._

_This man was not going to shut the door on Naruto's face as so many, even himself had done._

_Naruto had a choice still, remain here, keep training, or fade and become obsolete._

_Naruto was straight up flabbergasted._

_An eyebrow arched up at his uncharacteristic disability to talk._

" _I understand if you want to quit this organization after today."_

" _No," he finally whispered. "I will. I never want anyone to feel what I do. So I will keep training. I'll get better. I will Purge."_

 _After a moment of either serious contemplation or straight up concern, Kakashi smiled, handing him a badge. On it was a fiery creature. A Phoenix, surrounded by Latin that translated to_ Inheritors of the Will of Fire.

" _Then it is now official, you are a full-fledged member after today and a member of my squad. From here on, you obey and work with me, Namikaze."_

_Naruto looked at him funnily, taking the badge. "Um, Cap, again, my name's Uzumaki. Naruto Uzumaki."_

_Kakashi laughed. "Whoops, sorry about that. I keep forgetting...Welcome aboard...Uzumaki."_

He could and would probably always be able to see the scene play out in his mind, that entire day.

"Kakashi," he said, back in the present. "We'll talk later, alright?"

There was a long pause before he got a mumbled answer.

He hung up and turned to Sasuke. "He said you're filing the paperwork. I apparently can't be trusted to do anything right."

Sasuke's eyelids narrowed. "Did he now?"

"Yup."

Naruto smiled now but the events of the following week couldn't have been worse.

The paperwork would lie there, unfinished, words would remain unspoken and the streets would run with blood.

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

**Be here Wednesday for The First.**

**And if you liked this, be sure to follow.**

**And if you**   _ **really**_ **liked this, be sure to leave a review. Tell me the whys so I can keep it in mind while these are being posted. What you say could alter a few things for the better later on.**

**If you hated this leave a review, anyway. I like to think I'm open-minded toward criticism.**

**Oh, and if you think you'll be sneaky and look up what happens next in the original fic, I altered it in advance.**

**You're welcome. :)**

* * *

**On Updates:** This is technically not yet  _another_  new story.  **It is a COMPLETE remaster of a very old fic**! Yes, complete because  **I've completed all the chapters in advance and will post a chapter every single day (after The First) until I reach its final part**! Which is risky when it comes to reviews...Because I read every one and consider any point they bring feel free to review each chapter, but know that I can't alter further chapters in consideration to points brought up. Not  _too_ much anyway. But I'll certainly try because I really appreciate feedback.

There are seven chapters, this prologue, and an epilogue so nine parts of this story altogether plus some small supplementary material that will not affect post days. Nine days of updates. Enjoy this series during its run while you can!

 **Why Start Anew?:**   **I started the original in October 2013**  but never finished. Part of the reason I didn't finish it was because back then I didn't have internet at home so I depended on Microsoft Word to write and a thumb drive and/or a laptop to take to a spot that had wifi to upload my fic chapters. I had started the next chapter but then the thumb drive became lost. I didn't feel like re-writing what I had started. Now days I don't have to worry about losing fics because I have internet at home and utilize Google Docs. And Grammarly. :)

Nonetheless "7 Days" was never restarted because it had too many flaws. Like its dated title for instance and the insistence on certain elements better left removed. Recently I went through what brief notes I had scribbled down all those years ago and I scraped half of it and fixed it up. Thus, welcome to my first  **complete** Remaster, Seven Devils. And yes the new title isn't inspired by a dated...meme? but by Florence and the Machine's song which happens to share the same number I was still wanting to go for.

 **Concept Notes:**   _This story is essentially about inner struggles, about them manifesting themselves as actions. The literal evil we see or hear about and how_ even the most decent people have their own demons _. Some are obvious. Some aren't. But we all have them. What matters is conquering them in the end and not letting them win. Even when they do..._

_As for who has what, if you compare them to the deadly sins, that's up for your own musings._

_There is one thing that should have been apparent from this beginning: it's also about having fun. Throwing easter eggs out or teasing things because we're fans. And this is . So while there are very serious moments in this fic, there will be references that, if not you, they made me laugh. I just want to have fun with this fic. Naruto was an amazing series. But you want to know what made me, someone who tried it out in apprehension, fall in love? The characters and those special moments. It was fun sometimes. But then other times it got serious. It made me cry. Such a wonderful ability, to have something that makes someone laugh and cry. That is something I can't replicate, yet want to celebrate with this...Even though I'll be the first person to say my writing leaves much to be desired. XD_

**TRIVIA:** _Sources of inspiration for this story back in 2013._ Final Fantasy XIII  _for purge as a term, not a horror movie I've not watched._ Black Cat  _(the MANGA only!). Newly discovering and watching_ Shippuden  _altogether._ CSI _. Now days there's some Dante's_ Inferno  _bleeding in. Seven deadly sins. Florence and the Machine's song._ DC Comics _. Especially Detective Comics (Rebirth), Red Hood._

 **Notes on This Chapter:**  Firstly, Naruto not knowing Japanese? Yup, to me he looks more western, Sasuke looks more Asian so in this world that's not real, and one where there's a lot of black characters as well, even though in Japan, the race is dominantly Japanese, I did that. I'm treating this like it's its own world, with dominantly Japanese clans, and people who are obviously blond, or black beside them. It's just a world, alright?

**Thanks if you got this far and see you in a few days, then we'll be seeing each other every day for a week!**


	2. The Email

**To: Uzumaki_Naruto**

**Subject: Arranged Meeting**

**Dear Uzumaki,**

**Before the transition, there are confirmations of various degrees I need. The third of October, promptly at 8:00 PM, I request your audience at the Uchiha Headquarters to discuss certain matters. See attachment for further details.**

**This exchange will be between only us. Do not involve my son.**

**Regards,**

**Uchiha Fugaku**

**30/9/17**


	3. The First

 

**DATE POSTED: 4/10/17**

_Naruto smiled now but the events of the following week couldn't have been worse.  
The paperwork would lie there, unfinished, words would remain unspoken and the streets would run with blood._

* * *

**SEVEN DEVILS**

**The First**

* * *

Naruto stirred, jolting awake. His eyes cracked open, meeting with the glaring presence of light.

The first and only thing he knew was an all-consuming sense of disorientation.

It was daytime. Smelled like morning. And he was seated in his car, his forehead red from being pressed to the dashboard. He leaned back, rubbing his head. It felt heavy. Sluggish.

He moaned, brow crinkling. His body was stiff and his senses felt... _off._  His mind, worse.

Rubbing his eyes, he glanced outside his car window. It  _was_  morning, the sun was beginning its dominating rise, windows reflecting it with harsh glares. He had to shield his eyes from surrounding cars.

 _Okay_ , he thought.  _A parking lot..._

He stared outside in growing confusion. "What the..."

Why was he parked here and—

"Crap!"

The digital clock numbers read 7:13. Meaning he was very, very late and, holy crap, Kakashi would skin him alive. No, forget him, what about Tsunade? He shivered at the thought of incurring her wrath.

Quickly, he started his car and drove off, pushing his questions to the side. But they tarried there, like a shadow in a beam of light, and he could not fight off the feeling of it niggling inside him.

His hand instinctively reached for under his seat while the other remained on the steering wheel. Fingers graced across a metallic surface. The Kyuubi. A breath of reassurance. Almost.

Purge cars rushed past his, sirens blaring.

_Seriously, what's going on?_

No matter. He'd be at headquarters and know soon enough.

 **_** -xxxxxxx-_

Detective Kakashi stared at the bloody scene before him and his hangover was forgotten from the pure level of horror, the likes of which he hadn't felt in over a decade.

Unconsciously, his fingers reached for his gun holster, just hovering against the material but not unbuttoning it.

Seconds of tenseness passed, dangling on the verge of snapping out as a stretched rubber band. But with a collective breath, the safety of the device was forgotten and he pulled the yellow tape up and entered the crime scene.

"You're late, Captain."

The voice belonged to a younger Purge member from his squad who went simply by the name of Sai. No surname or any other kind of title. Sai had gotten here before him. Hadn't had to stop for coffee like he had.

"Sorry about that, Sai," Kakashi said, turning toward him. Sai blinked emotionlessly and lowered his camera so that it hung from its strap, giving the captain his undivided attention.

"I was speeding here when my car ran over a cat, and I just  _couldn't_  leave its body in the middle of the road so I was forced to park and ever so tenderly move the cat's corpse to the sidewalk. But then a little girl came and saw, and it turned out she was that cat's owner. You see how that was problematic for me?"

Sai chuckled, "Yet another tall excuse, eh? What little girl would wake up so early in the morning and also happen to notice her missing feline and go out to search for it just as early, on a school day at that? There was no cat and no little girl."

"Maybe I was mistaken…" Kakashi paused realizing the flaw in his story. He should have known Sai would have caught onto any mistakes, even the tiniest ones. Now if he had been speaking to Naruto on the other hand…

Finally, he admitted the truth. "I honestly thought this was a joke. This isn't even in our jurisdiction."

Sai nodded somberly. "It is now."

Again, they looked out towards the scene before them and something in Kakashi shivered. They dealt with crime scenes routinely. But this crime scene was...different.

The word " _scene_ " didn't even cover a fraction of it.

"Geez," he breathed, rubbing his temple. "You know that trick Naruto sometimes plays on Sasuke to freeze his phone up?"

"I think I do."

"Send it to him."

"You do know that it only takes rebooting the device to fix it?"

"Just do it, please."

Anything to buy them even just seconds of time would be grand.

Sai fidgeted with his phone briefly before giving a nod to Kakashi. "It's done. He won't turn it back on for at least an hour because he'll assume Naruto will just send it again. He's been rather bad about playing tricks like that lately."

"Then we best get our job done before Sasuke turns it back on."

"Something this magnitude isn't going to be hidden for long," Sai countered, rather unapologetically. He wasn't one to mince words. "You know that. He's going to find out before lunchtime and, well, it won't be pretty."

Kakashi closed his eyes; not pretty indeed.

"I know but..." He left it unsaid.

"Alright then." Sai held up his bulky camera. "Be careful not to disturb anything. I've not got all the pictures yet. As you can see…"

The scene that lay before them was gruesome and seemed to span the entire estate. What was once the glorious heart of the Uchiha estate and closed-off community was now covered in bloodied bodies. In Kakashi's tardiness, Sai had already placed many small numbered yellow tents to mark all necessary places of evidence and spots of interests, or at least the ones for outside.

"I've not even touched inside the houses, yet," he commented, noticing Kakashi's line of sight. "But they seem to be broken into and in the same state."

"Anyone alive to tell us what they saw?"

"No. And whoever did this tried to take care of security too. The electricity was shut off for the entire estate, disabling a lot of the cameras. Then..." He chuckled grimly. "I caught a few dog corpses as well. They were speedily and a lot carelessly taken out. They didn't bother with other pets, the quiet ones."

"Lovely," Kakashi deadpanned. "Their cats probably tampered with—"

"Not this time. I went ahead and called animal services so the evidence wouldn't be compromised. Don't worry, I didn't let the workers on the scene."

That would explain the cat hair on Sai. And some blood.

Kakashi turned his line of sight back to the estate.

The sheer amount of the evidence marking tents littered the area like the grains of sand on a beach. The bodies, already marked with the triangles as well, were young and old alike.

_How sad. No one was spared from this butchery._

Kakashi kneeled down in front a body that was nearest. A male, middle-aged, wearing pajama bottoms and an old T-shirt. Nearly all the bodies seemed to be dressed for bed or else wore dirty clothes ready for the next day's changing.

Quite a few had the Uchiha security uniform on. Black shirt and dark pants. A late night then, for quite a few of them. Noticeably older males. Kakashi pulled out his notebook, a ratty old red-leathered thing. Jotting that down, he then focused on the body below him.

 _From the looks of it_ , he figured, upon closely examining the obvious external trauma via blood pooling out an open wound,  _the perp went through this place stabbing victims, making sure to go for vital areas so they could quickly hit the next person._

He scribbled on the lined pages:

**Vital spots.**

**Fast.**

**A blade?**

He paused in his writing.  _This must have been done in the dead of night, and by the time attention was roused and others had woken, it was still too late for them._ He wrote down more.

**Late night.**

**Planned.**

**Why this night?**

**Why this estate?**

**Find significance.**

With a grim expression, he slid the notebook back into the front pocket of his black jeans.

_So many bodies…And to think, we're only at the front of the estate._

The Uchiha estate was surrounded by a walled fence. In it were rows and rows of houses and at the front entrance, the heart, their own headquarters for security, once the police department. The building stood as a testimony of the power once held. Now it was equally a victim as its workers. The windows were broken, the exterior marred. It seemed to have been hit the hardest and numerous bodies could be seen from where Kakashi stood now, lain about in the inside, their backs and throats crimson.

"I think they would have had to use a long knife," Sai said, like a voice in the background. He was hunched over another body. "A military or hunting one perhaps."

Sai turned the head, so he could examine the neck. A young girl, curled up, wearing a baby-pink gown.

It was a difficult sight, but Kakashi was well experienced. As for Sai, well he was bred for perfection and lived to get the job done. He was one of Danzo's guys and that man had raised potential members at the orphanage with an iron fist. They were trained to take people down before puberty even hit. Harsh but effective. Sai was the last of his kind though, as the codename Roots Initiative had been shut down completely a couple of years ago.

Kakashi inhaled through his mouth and moved away from the body before him.

Even though both had experience with crime scenes, the stench polluting the air around them was still barely tolerable. The massacre may have happened  _that_ night, the bodies had yet to begin to decompose but even so, the sheer amount of fresh blood soaking into the ground made for a strong and foul stench. It was said that after three minutes of being in such a foul odor one would go through olfactory fatigue and the nerves would go numb. Three minutes was not fast enough.

Just another annoyance to add to his aching head.

Clicks from Sai's camera ticked on as he took numerous pictures and occasionally scribbled and sketched in his notebook what he saw, it would take him a good amount of time to cover everything. Taking pictures and taking notes on the crime scene involved capturing every little detail that could prove useful to solving the case, every victim, their wounds, footsteps, and car tracks. Which strangely Kakashi couldn't see any visible prints or tracks of any kind around. Hopefully, this was not an omen of further problems to come with obtaining biological evidence.

As Kakashi gazed out at the gory sight before him he thought carefully about how to go about this case as one of his own squad members was, in fact, an Uchiha. Just how would Sasuke take the news of the slaughter of the seemingly entire family? There was no way he'd handle it well at all. No telling what he would do. How bad it'd get and, frankly, Kakashi wasn't looking to find out and handle damage control. But he would if he had to.

Sasuke was one of his. And he took care of his squad.

Sasuke was one of the few Uchiha who did not still dwell in his family's estate. Most did. They were supposedly a tight family of high status. Very traditional. Duty and honor. And as a son of the head, Sasuke was supposed to be his father's right-hand man. Instead, he and Naruto were roommates at a cheap apartment. And if he hadn't been…he, too, would have certainly fell victim to this crime.

Someone clearly had it out for Uchiha blood. The question was why? Why go past just their crime unit and attack their families as well? This went past their possible history with their crime unit then. That or they were just a psycho. There was killing in the heat of the moment, unintentional or rage-filled accidents, then there was just butchery. Planned out butchery and this one was. Covered tracks, EMP. They had planned this and executed it with seeming perfection.

But for this magnitude? Was this just to make a statement of some kind, or just for attention? Either way, they had it.

When Kakashi had left that morning upon being dispatched by Tsunade, Sasuke had been buried under paperwork at her order as well.

"We don't need another Deidara  _Incident_ ," she had told Kakashi in private and now he understood why

Kakashi felt sincere pity sweep through him for the young man.

Kakashi pulled his radio out. "Tsunade boss," he said calling the Alpha, "do not dispatch the rest of Squad Seven, not even Sakura, I repeat do not. Any other Squad but them."

He heard a sigh on the other end. "Is it as bad as the caller said it is?"

"It's a lot worse. An all-out massacre. No survivors."

Her breath caught for a moment. "I understand…Sakura is holed up conducting an autopsy on a body found last night and Uzumaki hasn't even clocked in yet. Probably stayed up late playing that new stupid Make Out Zombies game," she complained. "He kept bragging how they put Jiraiya in the game in honor of him. Seems rubbish to me but, you know, Naruto never shuts up over anything."

Kakashi would have to borrow that...

"But," Tsunade said, continuing. He shook his head at Tsunade's voice. "What do you want me to do about Sasuke? That paperwork won't hold him long."

Whoever had done this would surely have Sasuke to fear. More clicks from Sai's camera ticked by as he made his way while trying to carefully step over the numerous bodies.

Kakashi sighed. "Keep him busy until I have a chance to personally talk to him, Alph. I need to be the one to do it, no one else, nothing else. This is going to be hard for him. And I can already just see him wanting this guy and to spill their blood for what they've done."

"I see. Since because of Officer Uzumaki's tardiness this morning I dispatched Officer Akimichi to patrol the Uchiha estate earlier, I will send out the rest of his squad to handle the scene as well since I'm now aware of the magnitude. A dog as well. But I am not dismissing you yourself from the case.  _Out."_

Kakashi nodded, thankful for Tsunade's cooperation. Kiba and Team Ten were good choices. He was especially grateful he'd have Shikamaru's help with this case. That kid had brains; he was a valuable Purge member who handled not only evidence collection but also he was one of the Purge's best crime-laboratory technicians as well. Ino, on the other hand, was inferior to Squad Seven's Sakura as a medical examiner unfortunately but any help this case could get was much needed.

Besides, it didn't take a huge medical degree to see that these victims were dead as could be and clear victims to stabbing. Judging by the direction of some of the slits, victims to a right-handed attacker as well. Speaking of Squad Ten, where was their officer, Choji? He was a rather big fellow, long wild hair, so it was hard to miss him.

As the captain advanced through the ghost town that was their crime scene he found himself pulled to the wall and was about to step outside the black gates when a silver object caught his eyesight. The silver glinted in the rising sun's light, caught by the brick that surrounded the Uchiha Estate.

"Hey Sai," Kakashi called. "By the gate, side entrance, look."

Sai stopped and walked towards the object Kakashi had pointed out. It was a bloodied knife. He quickly began taking pictures, capturing its position, measurements, and location from multiple angles and distances.

"Since no one reported gunshots last night and the victims appear to be killed by a sharp weapon this just might be a murder weapon," Sai said. "Either way, it's definitely probative."

"This makes our job easier," Kakashi began, an eyebrow twitching downward, suspicious of their luck.

Tracks had not been left but yet something as damnable as a murder weapon was?

Sai shrugged. "Maybe the assailant unexpectedly dropped it in their haste. Dispatch  _did_  say the caller who reported the scene in saw a figure rush off around 4 A.M."

"Yes," Kakashi mumbled. "Hopefully the perp left a few good fingerprints on there for us to find."

**Note: The Caller. 4 in the morning.**

"It  _would_ make this case  _so_ much easier," Sai said. He kneeled down and began carefully picking the knife up by its tip in his gloved hands. He pulled out his flashlight and examined the knife closely.

**Check Caller's alibi and address out.**

"Thank goodness," he said pulling out a kit. Kakashi lowered his pen.

"What is it?"

"There're some patent prints. Looks like we got a palm too."

"Nice. But I still want it lifted. Give me the card."

Sai immediately set to work lifting the prints with powder after photographing it.

Kakashi glanced to where the knife had originally been, right outside a side entrance...

"While you're doing that I'm going to check in with Officer Akimichi about the person who called this scene in."

"Yes, Captain Kakashi."

It wouldn't be the first time a "witness" or caller turned up to be the guy and only called it into ease suspicion. It didn't, not in Kakashi's book.

Outside the gates, the smell was less putrid. Kakashi was thankful for the fresh air. He looked back and forth; it appeared Choji had done a fine job not only taping off the perimeter with the yellow tape but putting cones and signs out, giving them plenty of space, a little extra but they would need it the moment this case got attention. He took a step to find the officer when a tingling stopped him. Something was here as well, yes, in the grass he could see another body. Strange, this one appeared to be the only one  _outside_  the estate's gates.

He approached them carefully as if any noise he'd make would disturb their lingering spirit.

"Now, let's see what happened here," he mumbled, carefully cradling the head. He turned it.

And recognized their face immediately.

"Oh God."

His heart stopped beating. Needles prickled his skin. He knew exactly who this woman was.

She was Sasuke's mother.

He crouched next to her, his chest heavy. Unlike the other bodies, there were numerous stab wounds.

"Why?" he whispered.

He lowered her and scanned the area from the gate to her form. There were drops of blood coating the tips of grass between the two points and drags across the ground. Looking closely at the drags and droplets he tried to visualize what had happened in this small area. See her like a projection or ghost, her image collapsing outside the gates, as if not able to make it anymore. There was more blood, not from being still, no from another attack. He touched the drop, feeling the ground. It came from behind her. Dirt swirled, possibly from her own attack.

Tracing across the ground for a moment he glanced back to her. Yes, she had a dirty knee.

He could visualize her knee scrape across the ground now, meaning she attacked with her left hand.

Yes, this was good.

**Mikoto Uchiha fought back, almost got away.**

Kakashi checked underneath her nails. Didn't seem to be a sign of skin tissue under them that he could see with the naked eye but he would have them checked in an autopsy later. She could have punched them too. Hopefully, they were walking around with her fist bruised into their face. Or a bite mark. She would have known to leave her mark behind if she could.

After the scuffle, the crawling had begun anew and had gone on for a few feet before she had given up the ghost, but up until that moment, she had repeatedly tried to keep going until she finally dropped for that last time, succumbing to her all too early death.

"You tried getting away, didn't you?" he said, not caring he was speaking out loud and essentially to himself. "But they were relentless. Try resting in peace now, I'll watch over your son for you and I swear we'll get the monster who did this to you and your family. There will be justice...Speaking of which, where is your husband? Was he not near you?"

Where was Fugaku? Kakashi made a note in his notepad to pay particular attention to the man's location once it was found and graphed.

He stood up and walked around the perimeter until he finally saw the Squad Ten officer. Hear him. Choji was arguing with what Kakashi was going to assume was a reporter. From his angle, he couldn't see who it was behind Choji's bigger frame but he could already tell that they were standing within the taped off area.

 _Oh boy,_ Kakashi thought.  _It begins already._ Prying the eager-for-stories reporters from the scene of the crime could be such a chore and headache-inducing task.

"Excuse me, is there a problem here?" Kakashi asked in a loud authoritative voice as he approached the bickering officer and reporter.

"Yes, Captain Kakashi," Choji said pointing to the other party. "She  _refuses_  to leave."

Part of him wanted to groan out loud when he saw who  _she_  was.

Temari.

Her thin and curvy frame stood tall and she looked threateningly to Kakashi. "Well if it isn't the  _Detective_  Hatake."

"Temari," he said, already feeling his headache spike. "Isn't it a little too early for this? Just get back and let us do our job before you do anything that can't be undone."

She scoffed, grinning snidely at that. "Your  _job_? Let you  _do_  it?"

Oh boy.

"Well, you know what they say." She smiled maliciously. "The early bird catches the scoop. Besides, I gotta make a living  _somehow_ since my dear father fell victim to the Akatsuki because a certain organization  _failed_  to protect him. Yeah, some good you are at your  _job_ , even all these years later. The body count just keeps growing, doesn't it,  _Scarecrow_."

He forced himself to not react to the fact she somehow knew that name.

"Temari, we've been through this. And I'm sick of you trying to undermine us every time there's a homicide."

Every single time he was assigned to one, guess who was there to try to cause trouble or discredit him? It had become her purpose in life and Kakashi was sick of it.

"I know I screwed up, but it was beyond our—look, you know who this is really about and don't want to admit that he didn't want—"

The slap was hard and vicious. She lowered her hand, the limb shaking. "You have no right to bring  _him_  up."

Choji made to grab her, handcuffs already in hand but Kakashi raised his arm. "Don't."

"But..."

"You go on ahead, I'll handle her."

She glared at him relentlessly unforgivingly.

Choji quickly rushed off.

In his absence, Temari spoke. "How long are you going to keep spitting out excuses?"

"Temari...This is about now. For goodness sake. That was five years ago. Let it go."

"Let it go? The audacity for  _you_  to tell me that."

Shifting, he continued, keeping his voice firm but not harsh. "You're right. I'm the last person who needs to tell you that. But until someone else gets it through that thick skull of yours, I have no choice. Not when you are going too far and are interfering with other cases. And right now, you are behind police lines and are possibly contaminating potential evidence. Now  _go_."

She placed a balled fist on her hip. "You know…I just happen to be the person who called this in. You should show me some respect. No.  _Gratitude_."

Kakashi shook his head, his frustration real close to making itself known. He had every right to arrest her at this point.

But some part of him just couldn't.

"Listen Temari, I still feel bad about the whole Suna incident. That my Squad wasn't able to save your family, but if you don't get off the premises the same thing that happened to you is going to happen to one of my squad members. You wouldn't truly want that, would you?"

_Seeing your family dead on the TV screen as a news reporter rambled on about the horror when they couldn't even begin to understand what true horror even was…_

"Please," Kakashi said. "I can't undo my past mistakes…but if you so kindly get behind the tape we can make this easier for everyone. I'll question you about what you saw and after that, the Purge will find more evidence, then you can make your report. But not yet… And if you don't get behind the line I'll have you arrested. I don't want to do that."

Temari stubbornly crossed her arms. Looks like things were going to have to be done the hard way. Kakashi pulled out a pair of tweezers and picked a strand of blonde hair from the grass. His eye never missed anything.

"Look what I just found, if this hair matches yours you just went from being the caller to a  _suspect_."

"WHAT!?" she hissed. "But I called it in! I'm just a reporter!"

He frowned as he dropped the hair in a small evidence bag and sealed it. The hair, of course, belonged to her and had just fallen recently. But...On the front of the plastic bag he wrote with a thick black marker:

 **CASE:**   _UCHIHA MASSACRE_

 **ITEM:** _STRAND OF BLONDE HAIR, NOT FROM AN UCHIHA_

 **DATE:**   _4/10_

 **TIME:** _6:52 AM_

 **LOCATION:** _Outside Uchiha Estate Gates, found approx. four yards to the left of entrance._

 **OFFICER:** _DETECTIVE HATAKE, KAKASHI_

**REMARKS:**

He paused for emphasis, then began writing under 'Remarks' in big clear letters so she could see it perfectly:

_**BELONGS TO A VERY ANGRY SUSPECT WITH A LONG TERM GRUDGE AGAINST PURGE.** _

_**TALK TO HER EMPLOYER.** _

_**:)** _

"You've got to be joking! T-That's—"

"Official evidence now. Found directly within the yellow tape. Yup, that's  _why you stay behind the lines_ , Miss. Temari."

"You piece of sh—"

"Ah, ah, ah," he said, waving his finger. "None of that, now."

She was seething mad but he continued nonchalantly. "You're a reporter who just  _happens_ to be standing at a crime-scene before anyone else and not only that but the one who called this in, in the wee hours of the morning. What the heck were you doing out at that time of day? How do I know you aren't the murderer and are just using your job as a way to cover up your tracks?"

"What the heck are you even talking about?!"

He ignored her, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Mhm, let's look at motive now. You hate my guts and feel the compulsive need to use your profession as an excuse to butt heads with the Purge which I have a high rank in. But your attempts at successful stories to discredit me have failed. So it's time to take it to the next level. You want Squad Seven to go through the exact thing you went through…It just happens Naruto is an orphan and doesn't have any family for you to kill. So you struck Sasuke's home first. God knows you can't kill mine. He done offed himself for you."

He looked to the bag. "Yup, this'll do."

"How dare you!" she yelled, the rage in her voice trembling. "I would never sink so low! Yes, I  _hate_ the Purge but I would never kill! I'm not some freaking psycho." She grabbed her camera and swiftly stepped over the tape. "This city deserves to see you guys  _fall_! And when you do, I'll be the one to unmask you guys for what you  _really_  are."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kakashi inquired grimly.

She didn't answer but mumbled under her breath, leaving the scene. Kakashi sighed, exasperated, and crumpled the bag up. He'd throw it in the trash later on.

**Note to self: See if date coincides with the Suna Incident from five years ago. Connections?**

**Unlikely.**

**But still.**

Dotting the last period, Kakashi caught a figure in a dark hoodie in his peripheral vision, hovering at the edge. When Kakashi looked up, he was gone.

"Hm."

Back inside the gate, Sai handed him an index card. "Here, the prints. Can you go ahead and drop this off at headquarters? The knife too? This guy's still out there and he's going to want to get out of town. We need to get him in our custody before that happens."

Once one was officially accused of a crime, there was no bail or waiting for warrants. Too many times people had gotten away in that window of time, or straight up destroyed the evidence or the room where the crime took place. Scrubbed it down, or dumped the car or body somewhere obsolete. So the Purge had shut that window altogether. If proven innocent they were released. But not until then.

And if proven guilty, well they found themselves in a cell rather than a hotel-like room to stay in while the case was fully investigated.

Kakashi pocketed the card and knife.

"Alright, but be careful. The rest of Squad Ten should be here to help assist soon. After I'm done scanning this I'm going to have Temari questioned."

Sai nodded, smiling. "Oh, reporters."

"Heh, you can say that again."

He was almost in his car when Kiba's pulled up. His giant white dog, Akamaru hopped out of the sleek black vehicle, nose already in the air.

"Hey Ki—"

Akamaru began barking wildly, feet dancing against the ground. Kiba's mouth dropped, he started shouting but Kakashi had already begun moving.

"SAI!" he yelled, but it was too late and the slab grey building before them exploded, then like dominions, a trigger of explosions went from house to house in seconds, making a noise that had Kakashi's ears ringing.

Kakashi fell back, overwhelmed by the force of heat and smoke that discharged from the Uchiha estate.

Coughing, he took cover in his car and banged his head on the steering wheel with a loud curse. This was a nightmare. He quickly pulled out his radio.

"Tsunade, the estate just blew up! We need firefighters and a medic immediately! Call everyone else, we need to salvage anything we can!"

_-xxxxxxx-_

Purge Headquarters resided in the center of the city. A massive structure that was both wide and tall. It had four stories, the first of which housed its lobby and a huge break room that seemed more like its own house than anything else.

Naruto greeted Hinata who was sitting at one of the tables, sipping tea from an ornate cup. She was a member of Squad Eight but seemed to pop up around his squad a lot. In front of her was a small bunch of papers which she was filling out with neat and rather petite handwriting.

It reminded him of calligraphy.

Naruto fluidly typed his badge number into the computer before approaching the table she was at, twirling the nearest chair around.

She nearly spilled her drink at his seemingly sudden appearance. "N-Naruto!"

"Hey, Hinata."

Wiping the few droplets that had spilled with a napkin, she looked at him in shock. "Did you just get here?"

He rubbed his head sheepishly. "Um...Yeah, I kinda...slept in."

Slept in was the simplest explanation he could come up with. "I guess, I was just really tired or something and my alarm didn't go off because my phone died."

He plopped down in the chair, setting an energy drink down to the side.

"Those things aren't good for you," she commented, noticing.

"I know but coffee's too bitter."

"I see."

Slurping about half the can in a single gulp, he leaned close to her to read the papers she was filling out.

"That report on the blood found at the shop last week?"

She could feel his breath touch her ear and she blushed, tilting her head away slightly.

Trying to get her heart to slow, Hinata nodded. "Yes. I was trying to figure out a motive. Think I've narrowed it down a bit."

"Ah, good."

"The vic was in his forties," Hinata said. "Went by...Um, by...Killer B."

Naruto laughed. "I would too with that ridiculously long name of his. Betcha no one can remember it, it's like six syllables. Heh...Wait,  _Killer_  B? Seems threatening though. What's this guy do?"

She continued flipping through the report. "He was a wrestler."

"That explains it."

"He also frequented this club in town, basically a hangout for rap battling. I was going to investigate that tomorrow for leads, but I think his official profession is more likely the cause of death, at least that was my conclusion looking into it yesterday. I didn't like the atmosphere there. We think it's possible he was murdered for not taking a bribe to throw a match for a wrestling gig. There was a championship recently and he won. That didn't make the home folk happy. Or at least from what we've been able to find so far. There's still more people to ask."

Naruto sighed, rubbing his hand through his bangs. He had bright hair and his long hair hung nearly long enough to reach his eyes. She averted her eyes. She didn't want to just stare at him, that was weird...

"Why do people do it?"

"What?"

"It's just a stupid trophy. And now this guy is never going to fight again. Over a hunk of metal. A  _life_. For that."

"It's a power thing, Naruto. You know, recognition. Status."

"It's sick."

"Well, that's why the Purge is here. They won't ever leave once we get ahold of them. Not for this murder."

"I don't know, have you heard that some of the Akatsuki members have been transferred out? Where to no one's telling me."

"Really?" she said. "This is news to me."

"Yeah, well... Hey, can I borrow your charger?"

"Um, sure."

She fought back a mortified scream as she rummaged through her designer purse and pulled out a charger that was lilac and had a heart drawn on it with a permanent marker. A little addition by her younger sister, and one she instantly wished she had risked damaging the charger to scrub off with scalding water.

If he noticed, he didn't seem to mind. Just plugged his phone up and waited for it to turn on.

As he waited, she heard him mumble "Justice should always be absolute."

Hinata gave a soft smile. "You never waver."

"Huh?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

Seconds later his phone turned on, flashing the lock screen's wallpaper. He seemed to pause to look at it. A picture of him with his squad, all smiling and looking like they were having a great time together. It was a picture he stared at a lot.

And one of the few pictures he had of himself. Frozen in a happy time with those he cared about most. They all had it too, framed and on their desks.

Part of her hated that she wasn't in it.

Looking down, Hinata gathered her paperwork and readied to leave. "I need to go," she said.

"I wanna help."

She turned around, halfway out the door. "What was that?"

"I wanna help," he clarified, his voice louder this time. "I know I don't work with homicide cases as much as theft and others but, I wanna find out who killed this guy, Killer B. I want to catch this guy. Make them pay."

She smiled. "Alright. Tomorrow I'm going to ask around at the club in the Kumo District. It's called the Raijin. Three-a-clock."

"Raijin? Odd name. Alright. Sounds like a date."

She nearly fell backward.

_-xxxxxxx-_

On the second floor, Kakashi waited for the computer to scan the prints. He had just gotten back and had rushed to get a match as soon as he could.

The machine made a slight buzzing sound as it went through God knows how many prints. The detective rubbed his hands through his hair, listening to the noise and just thinking to himself. He still hadn't told Sasuke the news and he would have to do it soon…or gossip would. The sound of footsteps approaching interrupted his train of thought. Kakashi looked up to see Yamato peering down at him.

"How's Sai?" Yamato asked. "Please tell me he's doing better than his equipment did."

Kakashi had expected such an outcome. Purge technology was pretty advanced but there had been no saving it or any of his other stuff from the fire. Pretty much all of the evidence at the Uchiha estate had been burnt as smoothly as the tip of a match.

"Fortunately, last I checked anyway, Sai's alive but he's still in the ER with Sakura," Kakashi said gloomily. "I already informed Sakura about this case seeing as how she'll be the one to conduct the autopsy."

Sakura in the know left only half of Squad Seven ignorant now: the rival Uzumaki and Uchiha.

"Autopsy?" Yamato asked, slightly confused. "I thought the explosion…"

"Destroyed all the bodies? They did. Save for one," replied Kakashi. "Sasuke's mother: Mikoto Uchiha. If she had not been outside the gates…"

Yamato nodded understandingly.

"She is literally all we have left."

Sighing, Yamato held up a file. "He just finished this and turned it into me. If you're going to tell him yourself, I suggest you do it now. It's on the news already."

Kakashi nodded.

_-xxxxxxx-_

_Where were you all last night?_

This was a question Sasuke wanted to ask Naruto very much but he still had yet to spot him.

Exhaling, he approached Hinata who was exiting one of the labs. If anyone knew where Naruto was, it would be her. "Have you seen Naruto today?"

She started to open her mouth to speak but Sasuke's inquiry remained unanswered as Kakashi tapped him on the shoulder. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

Hinata stepped back and Sasuke nodded. "Shoot."

"Not here."

Sensing something was off, Sasuke shrugged and followed him.

"What did you bring me here for, Kakashi?" Sasuke asked as he sat at the smooth grey table and began tapping his fingers against its surface impatiently.

The room that Kakashi had taken him to, was often used for meetings but other than that it was empty save for the table. The table must have held at least twenty chairs. Enough for the council when it was time for judgment to be decided by the Alpha. Kakashi sat in a chair across from Sasuke.

"Give me your gun."

"Why?"

"Just give it here, please."

Sasuke removed the Susanoo from his holster and slid the black gun across the table to Kakashi who carefully grabbed it. "Last night…" Kakashi started but stopped which annoyed Sasuke. Kakashi pulled the gun's magazine out then proceed to empty it of all its bullets. He then pocketed the bullets, making sure to zip them in his pouch.

"Your other one too, please."

Sasuke's second and custom magazine followed and Kakashi gave them the same treatment.

Sasuke waited.

Not lifting his eyes, Kakashi commented: "You keep a knife tucked in your boot."

"And?"

"Give me your blade, too."

The Uchiha rolled his eyes as he removed and slid it across the table too. "Happy now? Care to explain already?"

Kakashi nodded, staring down at the silver blade which, of course, was thoroughly well cared for as one would expect from Sasuke. Kakashi, satisfied these dangerous tools were on his side of the table rather than the other, finally began his explanation once again.

"I'm afraid I have terrible news. Last night, the—something happened."

"Stop stepping on eggshells and spit it out already." Sasuke's voice hinted at both boredom and anger.

Kakashi stared at him for a moment.

"Give me your keys too."

"What?"

"Just trust me."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously but he did as directed and slid his keys across the table.

Kakashi began again. "I'll be frank. Last night, someone went through the Uchiha estate, murdering seemingly everyone within its walls. I suspect it had been done in the dead of night, to make the assault easier. I don't know the exact extent or if anyone might have gotten out and survived but…upon investigation this morning a series of strategically placed bombs were set off, destroying most of the evidence."

Sasuke's face was blank.

"Your…mother was one of the victims. She was also the only body recovered from the scene. I can only assume your father is dead as well. They made it clear they were after the heart of the Uchiha."

"..."

"I can only hope she'll lead us to who did this so they can be brought to justice."

Sasuke trusted Kakashi enough to know he would never lie about something like this. His face finally showed signs of shock then after a minute or two reflected sadness. He looked down, shaking his head.

A solid minute of quiet seemed to pass. But then his eyes darkened intensively, his lips curling into an angry frown. "Where's Naruto?"

"I don't see what he has to do with this." Kakashi waved dismissively. "I'll let him know later, until then just stay here and we'll—"

Sasuke stood up suddenly, knocking his chair down. It clattered as his fists slammed against the table.

"JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

Disturbed, Kakashi leaned forward, trying to regain eye contact.

"Sasuke, I don't see how he has anything to do with—"

"HE WAS AT THE ESTATE LAST NIGHT!"

This was bad. Very bad. He needed to get Sasuke to calm down. "What are you talking about, why would he have gone there?"

Sasuke laughed bitterly. "My father emailed him a few days ago about some meeting. He hasn't come back to the apartment since! He was gone  _all night_! Now tell me where he is, Kakashi!"

"Don't be so rash, Sasuke."

Sasuke lunged for his gun but Kakashi slapped his hand against the Uchiha's arm, holding it in an iron grip. "You know well," he hissed, "that even if he had been there last night, the killing was  _not_  his doing. You will  _not_ take your anger or sadness out on him and you will  _not_ lay a singer finger on him. Not  _one_."

"Tch." Sasuke tried pulling his shaking arm free but Kakashi refused to let go just yet. The Uchiha's eyes were still burning with instance hatred.

"Your family is  _dead_. We will find who did it and justice will be carried out properly. Do you hear me, Sasuke? Don't you  _dare_  isolate yourself in this. You're not the only one who's been in this boat. The Purge will get the people responsible and Squad Seven will do it together! Do not vent on him, do you hear me? That won't bring them back!"

Sasuke's head dropped, his bangs covered his expression making him unreadable. The only sign he was reacting was the fact his arm had stopped shaking.

"I refuse to let the squad shatter from this. It's bad, I know, but we're going to handle this together. We will get through this, Sasuke. You, you'll get through this. Together, all right? _"_

Small drops of water fell on the table. Kakashi seeing them fall steadily released the Uchiha's arm and left.

Time would inevitably heal a broken man but never a dead one.

Kakashi waited outside the hallway, giving Sasuke a few minutes to collect himself. People went back and forth, mostly oblivious to their plague. After what felt like enough time, he went back inside and informed Sasuke that they had at least one lead so far. The prints.

 **_** -xxxxxxx-_

Back in the lab with the scanner, they waited in the thick silence. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Yamato. Quietly Kakashi mentioned the odd email exchange between Fugaku Uchiha and Naruto, asked if he had seen him this morning (Yamato hadn't) but didn't say much else. The events of the night followed by its unfortunate morning had put a dark cloud over the building and under it, no one felt very talkative. A quiet beep from the computer broke the silence, signaling that the scanning was complete. Thankful, Kakashi looked closely at the monitor.

"That's strange," he murmured. "The symbol on here, it's the Purge crest."

The Purge crest, the symbol of a fiery phoenix guarding the 'P' from behind, caught his attention more quickly than the name that would forever change the Purge.  _It belonged to a Purger?_ The particular crest design on the screen signified that the person was one of the PH's own employees. There were slight variances of the PH crests depending on the Purger's forte and this one was proudly adorned with four stars—they were an S-Rank officer.

"They're a Purger?" Yamato asked. Behind him was Sasuke. "Who in the blazes?"

Kakashi didn't respond but instead stared in disbelief at the screen as he finally zeroed in on the name that contained not one, but two surnames. His eyes wide, he quickly began tapping on the computer's touchscreen. "Impossible," he muttered. He zoomed in on the two prints to inspect them more closely but it only revealed how absolutely perfect the match was.  _It can't be…_

Sasuke leaned over his shoulder as Yamato read the name out loud.

"Namikaze. Naruto Uzumaki."

The door to the room opened, Naruto walked in, throwing his backpack down. "Sorry, I'm late Captain."

No one had heard him come in.

Yamato looked to Kakashi, eyebrows drown down. "Namikaze?"

"So I was told to come here but I'm really confused."

All eyes turned toward him.

Naruto stared at everyone dubiously. "What's going on?"

Before Kakashi could answer, or move, Sasuke already was, pointing a finger in the air. "You did this!"

"Huh?"

Sasuke's teeth were grinding together. Before anyone else could say a word, he was pointing his gun at Naruto's face.

"Sasuke!"

It was too late. He pulled the trigger.

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

**Be here tomorrow for the next part!**

**And if you liked this, be sure to follow.**

**And if you**   _ **really**_ **liked this, be sure to leave a review. Tell me the whys so I can keep it in mind while these are being posted. What you say could alter a few things for the better later on.**

**If you hated this, leave a review anyway. I like to think I'm open-minded toward criticism.**


	4. The Second

 

_Before anyone could say a word, Sasuke was pointing his gun at Naruto's face._

_He pulled the trigger._

* * *

**SEVEN DEVILS**

**The Second**

* * *

The gun clicked, its barrel empty.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi who had minutes before confiscated the gun and made a show of removing the bullets. So caught up in the news, Sasuke hadn't thought of the empty magazines when he had grabbed the gun from the table upon leaving the conference room. Now he took it into consideration or rather had been forced to.

Naruto on the other hand promptly threw up.

"Augh!" he cried, falling backward. "What was that?!" He was shaking. Anyone would had a gun been pointed and shot at their face.

Yamato came behind him, grabbing his arm by his bicep. "Come on, Naruto. We need to talk."

"HE JUST TRIED TO KILL ME!"

Giving a brief glance back to Kakashi worriedly, Yamato ushered him away. "Just come with me, we'll sort this out.  _Elsewhere_."

Sasuke during all this had never taken his eyes off Kakashi. With the blond gone, and only the captain and Uchiha remaining, the room became dead silent. You could hear the world turning. Silently screaming.

"Give. Them. Here."

Kakashi's voice remained firm. "No."

Sasuke glowered but Kakashi would be just as relentless.

"His prints may be on the murder weapon but that doesn't mean he's responsible. You know better. Now go clock out."

"Tch."

Sasuke stormed out of the room. In his wake, Sakura walked in, timidly looking around and no doubt sensing the atmosphere. A serial killer might as well been in there with how tense it had become. "Kakashi? I came back with an update but then I heard the ruckus and—oh, what is even happening?"

Her voice broke on the last word, no doubt an effect of not only the atmosphere but knowing the autopsy waiting for her. Not just some random Doe this time, no, the mother of her squadmate.

Kakashi withdrew a deep breath and leaned back against the lab chair, massaging his temple with his fingers. There was still a scent of fire on them from the explosions earlier. Ash coated his vest from where his now-discarded jacket had failed to cover. This Sakura noticed and an even greater air of solemnity filled her. "Captain..."

"Sakura, I'm going to need you to keep a close eye over Sasuke, specifically take care of him. I know he's upset but he's also angry and I don't trust him at this stage to not do something irreversible."

She looked down sadly, her light hair falling downward, bangs nearly covering her otherwise bright eyes.

Haruno was pretty, competent with her work, but had never been successful in catching Sasuke's attention, not in the way she wanted. So being put to watch over him surely seemed like a daunting task, if not impossible.

"He's already gone through," she muttered forlornly, no doubt troubled by how they knew he would be until this blew over. He would push them away, just as he had when a certain man and his...steroid-like narcotics had become a problem.

Kakashi gave a wry grin. "No, he's not, I've got his car keys."

_-xxxxxx-_

Naruto had been led to one of the evidence labs where he was told to take a seat and remain there. He did so, confused, and horrified to silence.

Before he had thought he was being shot in the face, he remembered the words spoken before then, in the background, they floated dimly in his consciousness now:

" _You did this!"_

And had he really caught the name " _Namikaze"_?

_Kakashi...What is this?_

Confused, he waited still, Sasuke's expression still burned into his retinas, and surely forever etched into his mind. Whatever was going on, Sasuke had been utterly serious when he had pointed that gun at him. But, again, why? Just yesterday they had been working together as friends, having debates, even some sparring. So whatever had happened, it must have happened last night.

Naruto shifted, getting a bad feeling about this. He was utterly clueless to the situation and that left him extremely vulnerable. And he didn't like feeling vulnerable.

He hoped Yamato would finish up whatever he was doing now and tell him what he knew. Yamato was now whispering to another employee, Shiho, who was at one of the computers. She mostly messed with computers all day and had the ability to track nearly anything down from the monitor. They seemed to be looking for something. Scrolling then reading. Naruto thought he heard the word "email" but couldn't be too sure. In the end, they must have found what they were looking for because a few seconds later the printer was running.

Gathering the papers, Yamato approached Naruto once again. "We're going to talk, in 21B."

Naruto blinked. 21B was an interrogation room.

"Um, I see, but...Ah, I'd feel better in the break room. I'm thirsty."

Yamato didn't miss a beat. "We can stop at the water fountain on the way."

There was no water fountain between this lab and the break room.

"Why do you want me in the interrogation room?" Naruto asked suddenly.

Yamato didn't answer, just continued to stare at him expectantly as Naruto did the same. Naruto's brow twitching downward.

Across the room, Shiho coughed.

"Hey Naruto," she spoke timidly, obnoxiously round glasses doing well to hide her eyes. "Just do as he says."

"Yamato," Naruto said, ignoring the third party, "Is it that you want my reaction to what you are about to tell me on record?"

There were cameras in the interrogation room. In Purge, there was no such thing as privacy. Cameras and mics in 21B and other rooms for such things was a measure against sneaky intentions. Most of the times those being questioned were completely unaware the room was wiretapped.

"Yes."

Naruto looked down. "Can you just tell me now? I mean she's here too if any confirmation's—"

"No."

"Alright, but I expect you to tell me what's going on."

"Trust me," Yamato grumbled warily. "I will."

_-xxxxxx-_

"Seriously," Naruto said, plopping down in the chair. 21B was a slab grey space with a table and two chairs. In the upper corner, attached to the wall, was a small flat screen TV. "What's going on?"

"I don't even know how to begin," Yamato said, honestly struggling to find words. In the course of less than a day, so much had changed.

Finally, he settled for turning on the TV to the news channel.

"This," he declared, "is what's going on."

Naruto looked to the TV-screen, resting his chin boredly into his hand as upbeat Spanish music drifted through the air, rather pleasantly.

"Uh, Yamato, that's a taco ad."

Face-palming, Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose. "Must be on a commercial break..."

"Yeah, like the TV will just automatically and conveniently play what I need to hear the moment you turn it on. Come on, Yamato, this ain't a movie."

"All right." With a sigh, Yamato turned the TV off altogether and sat down to explain it himself. He did, though, pull out a couple of pictures from the file, which depicted two different chaotic scenes. The first, of a fiery mess, people in coats were all about, yelling commands to each other as smoke spewed behind them. The picture beside it was a bloody scene which could best be described as a massacre. Bodies, a lot of them, lying about randomly, some in the grass, other on the concrete and wood of patios.

It reminded Naruto of an incident in the seventies, that was photographed, depicting a morbid scene where hundreds of people were just laying all over the place, dead. A mass suicide they said. Others pointed to the cult but to Naruto, a life was a life and whatever the cause, it was still an injustice.

Naruto gawked. "This a history lesson?"

"No. These were taken this morning, same place, different points, but both from Kakashi's phone because the scene exploded and Sai's camera was damaged. They're the only shots we got until the scene is taken care of again. But countless evidence and bodies were destroyed."

Naruto blinked a few times. "Wait, what?  _This_? What happened— _where_?"

"Late last night," he began, silencing Naruto's quickly downpouring torrent of questions, "the Uchiha were murdered."

Naruto coughed. "What?! This is a joke, right?" He gawked at the pictures, finally taking in the setting properly. The crests and styles of the houses. "I mean I spoke with his dad last night!"

"I know, we got the email." Yamato held up another sheet of paper, on it was a screenshot of an email:

**To: Uzumaki_Naruto**

**Subject: Arranged Meeting**

**Dear Uzumaki,**

**Before the transition, there are confirmations of various degrees I need. The third of October, promptly at 8:00 PM, I request your audience at the Uchiha Headquarters to discuss certain matters. See attachment for further details.**

**This exchange will be between only us. Do not involve my son.**

**Regards,**

**Uchiha Fugaku**

**30/9/17**

The message had come the day after the butcher shop incident. Naruto had thought it was random, responded "Defaq?" but the head of the Uchiha had been serious. He wanted to meet. Even now Naruto had no clue why even after the fact.

"Wait, why're you reading my personal..." He stopped short, the truth of the matter dawning on him. "Wait a minute! I'm a  _suspect_!? It's just an email—All we did was  _talk_! Okay? I didn't butcher the guy!"

"Naruto, we can't ignore the fact that you were there last night, especially considering how abnormal that is. Secondly, your prints, they were on the this."

A picture of a knife slid across the table.

"The murder weapon."

Naruto threw the picture to the side furiously, standing to his feet. "This a joke?! It's not funny at all!"

"Naruto, I'm being reasonable as it is. You should have already been locked up by now by our procedures' dictation."

"But I didn't do this!" he roared. "And you know it!"

Yamato was trying his best to keep his tone calm and assertive. "I know that Naruto but until we clear you, proce—"

"Screw them! You know I would never—"

"Shut up and listen to me!"

Yamato's yell had been so sudden, forceful even, Naruto fell back in his seat, dumbfounded.

The usually quiet mannered captain practically threw a notebook on the table, slamming his hands down on it. "We can't ignore protocols just because this is personal. Evidence is the only absolute. So, Naruto, you're going to start talking. I want to know where you were last night, and who to ask. I need you to have a credible alibi because right now, we got lots of fingerprints, even your palm prints, that say you killed a lot of people in their sleep last night. That you never even came home last night."

Naruto looked down bitterly, crossing his arms. He shouldn't even have to put up with this!

"Have it your way," Yamato hissed. "A cell it is."

"Fine! And I don't appreciate you talking to me like it's even remotely possible that I had anything to do with this! I went there around nine. He wanted to talk. I don't know, he was babbling. Then I went to Ichiraku's because I was hungry. That was at like ten."

Yamato had opened up the notebook and drawn two lines, perpendicular to each other. The first line, at the top, he wrote 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM. On the second line, towards the bottom, he wrote "The massacre. T.O.D 3-4:00 AM.

The first line was Naruto's timeline, the second, the Uchiha Massacre. With most of the evidence destroyed by the fire, they would have to rely on Naruto being able to confirm he couldn't have been involved, which was hard to do when at the top, the lines were very much connected, highlighted by the scribbled word  **MEETING-Naruto and Fugaku, arranged at end of September**.

"What do you mean he was babbling?"

Naruto could not stop his hands from rubbing his face. The worried tick in his voice. "I don't know! Okay, I know that sounds bad but he was talking about something and whatever it was I was really out of the loop so most of what he said literally meant nothing. I mean...I just don't know!"

"Try harder than that, Naruto."

"It was like the email. That's literally the best I can sum it up. He talked, and um, made it clear he didn't think I was good enough for whatever and told me to take my leave. And believe me, I did, and didn't want to come back again. His wife was nice and all but everyone else...I can't explain it, but the atmosphere...They didn't like me and I have a feeling they don't like anyone else outside their clan. So I was happy to leave and not come back."

"And then?"

A tear trailed down his cheek, the hole he was in only deepening. He could feel it sinking like quicksand. "I don't know...But, Yamato, I didn't do this. Sasuke's like a brother. And in some way, his brother too. And I wouldn't hurt his family. I would  _never_  hurt any of my friends' family."

How could they believe for a second that he would so something so cruel? Family was the one thing he desired most in this world. And now Sasuke's was dead. And once dead, that's it. Gone.

The cruelest thing about life was the surety of death was the one thing that truly connected everyone. But murder? No, this butchery? He had been there only a few hours before it had happened. Yet...

"I would never..."

Yamato sighed. "I know, Naruto. I know, alright? But...Procedures. And procedures are telling me we have multiple points of evidence, firstly that your fingerprints were on a knife—"

"I never even touched one!"

Yamato continued. "And you were there last night and you have motive."

"Motive?" he whispered, wanting nothing more than to shrink into the floor. For all of this to disappear.

"We all know Sasuke wasn't at best terms with his father. Maybe your chat went south, and when it did and you saw him as a threat to Sasuke, your anger got the best of you. But then others saw, and you tried to contain what you had done..."

"Yamato, please stop. That isn't me."

Yamato took a deep breath before he leaned forward and spoke grimly. "Naruto, I know that, but at the same time...I've seen you at your worst."

Naruto could only shake his head and close his eyes, wishing desperately he could wake up from this demented nightmare.

But he didn't.

"We'll need to detain you until you're cleared. As we will continue to investigate you will get a proper room. I'm sure something will come up to clear this before you end up being transferred to the prison wing..."

"Talk to Ichiraku," he whispered. "He'll confirm I went there afterward last night. And if I was there after the meeting, I wasn't at the estate while they were about to be killed. He'll clear me."

_-xxxxxx-_

Kakashi took literally no time to get to Ichiraku's as fast as possible, even forfeiting cleaning up so he still smelled of fire. It was a short drive. The ramen restaurant was nestled pretty close by and was one Naruto had frequented for years, even as a child.

The man who owned it, a Teuchi Ichiraku, ran it himself as a family business. Nice man, nearly in his fifties, perhaps sixties, and a person who had treated Naruto kindly as a child, even when he technically didn't have money to pay for his meals. The man let him work for it at times by washing the dishes or the counter. Other times he just threw up his hands and gave full bowls to the boy for free.

Once he had gotten older, Naruto had, of course, started paying for himself but the debt he owed the man was countless.

He greeted the old man now, with a curt nod. "Sir, I've got some questions for you."

Looking up from the counter he was wiping, Ichiraku smiled at him. "Detective Hatake! It's been awhile!"

Kakashi nodded. "It has." Pushing the formalities out of the way he got straight to business. "I have a question to ask. What time was Naruto over last night? Do you know or have his receipt?"

The man was just old-fashioned and humble enough to not have a camera. Else Kakashi would have already looked through its footage by now.

Ichiraku continued to wipe the counter. "Naruto? Yeah, I missed him last night. I swear, that boy's here every week."

"You mean?"

"Naruto was never here last night."

Kakashi wanted to curse out loud. Naruto's only chance at disapproving himself had just come up dead and there was nothing else to hang on to.

But just to be double sure: "You're positive, absolutely so? That Naruto was not here at  _all_  last night?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I...I missed him, Kakashi, sir..."

Ichiraku glanced to the wall before looking back to the detective. His line of sight then dropped back to the counter where his hand froze mid-swipe of the towel. "So did my daughter."

His daughter. Ah yes, she was always right beside him, helping run their restaurant. You never saw them apart.

"Where is she right now?" Kakashi asked, hoping she would have spotted him. Perhaps they had been swamped when Naruto had come and Ichiraku just hadn't noticed—

"Collage."

"Ah, I see.

Kakashi glanced at the window grimly. "Well, looks like I'm done here."

"Yeah."

"If you see him again, let us know."

"Will do. I'd hate if something happened to the kid. Please look after 'em."

_-xxxxxx-_

There was a section of the Purge, dubbed purgatory by a lot of the workers and inmates. A set of rooms, given to people accused but not yet convicted of a crime. The stays were nice, pleasant, but still did not hide the fact that the one being investigated was still being locked up. Those proven innocent were compensated with money. Enough to keep them happy at the inconvenience.

Money wouldn't be shushing Naruto up from even just the intention of that room and he refused to even consider staying in there. This was something he had hoped to avoid altogether. That, and the stares from a few various members of the Purge who happened to look at him with pity as they walked by and about their business.

This egged him on tremendously.

Across him, as they waited in the hall near a room, Yamato answered his phone. Naruto was tapping his foot on the ground impatiently, hearing him answer, "Kakashi."

There was a pause.

A "You're kidding!".

Now Yamato was rubbing his hair. "What do we do now?"

"..."

"Right."

He looked at Naruto briefly. "And you're making  _me_  be the one to do it...You owe me big time, you hear me, I'm talking double. Fine. I'll do it."

Hanging up, the captain took a deep breath. "Okay, Naruto, so apparently, um, Ichiraku fell through, so we're going to go ahead and have you—"

"I'm not staying here!" he spat, instantly rising to his feet. Yamato winced.

"Look," he said, trying to calm the Uzumaki back down, his hands motioning 'stop' in the air. "We know you're innocent, that you didn't murder the Uchiha clan at least. Alright? But if you are then that means someone with a lot of resources is targeting you."

The protection angle was both Tsunade and Kakashi's idea and in all reality it was true. Someone with the power to take an entire family out in the dead of night, to not leaving anything but damning evidence for another party, was not a person to be taken lightly and until they had them in the Purge's custody, both Naruto  _and_ Sasuke could be in danger.

"So you want me to just sit here and do  _nothing_ but be their scapegoat!?"

"No, I want you to stay under surveillance, so we can  _protect_  you."

Naruto's eyes were squeezed shut. In his head, all he could hear was himself screaming  _no, no, no, no, no!_

Someone had killed his best friend's family. That someone was targeting him too. And the Purge wanted him to just sit here,  _uselessly_. And he knew it wasn't even Kakashi's call. This was an action commended from the very top, with the Alpha, spurred on by years of procedures. It's just this time, it was personal.

An eye shot open, glaring at Yamato.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Yamato Looked at him, questionably. "About what?"

"This!" Naruto charged at him, slamming his fist into the captain's diaphragm. Choking on air, and the terrible onslaught of force and gravity, the man sailed back, falling to the floor, gasping for breath.

And Naruto booked it out of there, running right past all the stares and coworkers, right out the nearest window, not once looking back. He did though, utter under his breath, once more, "I'm sorry."

_But I have to do this._

_-xxxxxx-_

" _He did what?!_ "

Yamato winced at the sudden inflection of her tone, how unusually extra  _livid_  it was. Taking a deep breath, the elder and Alpha of the Purge sat back down at her desk.

He was in Tsunade's office, the top floor, and it was filled with a cluster of items you would expect in such an office, but accessorized not with personal items but time capsules of the past Alpha. Picture frames and other memorabilia spoke of past legacies. The position of Alpha was one passed down through family just like most of its members were mostly brought in by past generations.

Seeing as she was not married, she was responsible for choosing her successor. The one she picked would have to have close ties to the Purge and past connections as well. This was how the Purge remained strong...

Although, already Yamato could see seeds of discord being planted with this case. People and their opinions on this case and Naruto would become divided. He could just see it now, because in the few years Naruto had joined, he had made a lot of friends.

Clearing her throat, Tsunade looked at him expectantly.

"What. Happened?"

Yamato grimaced. "I blacked out for a bit."

"I see." She was biting her thumbnail, a nervous habit he hadn't known she possessed, muttering something under her breath.

"I'm sorry?"

"This was not supposed to happen," she said quietly, then louder, "We need him back, Yamato. We can't have him running around and getting himself into more trouble."

"I agree."

"Good. Kakashi is back, meet up with him."

"Yes, Alpha."

As he turned to leave, he caught her staring worryingly at a picture frame, frowning.

The picture in it was of her with a young boy and a man named Dan and all three of them were smiling together. Yamato had never met either of them before and briefly wondered why that was.

"Ma'am?"

She waved her hand at him. "I'm alright, just make sure we get him back. I will not have the Purge lose another member to a criminal."

_-xxxxxx-_

Moaning as he walked along, his stomach very much bruised, Yamato met with Kakashi in one of the labs. Sasuke was there too, quietly sitting by himself, his car keys still with Kakashi. He was apparently left with the only option of waiting for Kakashi or someone else to get off work and let him crash with them. His apartment was now a scene, one that would be searched later.

Retrieving an ice pack from a freezer, Yamato sat beside the detective. The man was looking thoughtfully at the notes Yamato had taken before, in the interrogation room, and added a few of his own, looking to his phone for reference occasionally. He wrote Temari's name for 4 AM and 7 AM.

"Whoo, just look at how sluggish you are," Kakashi chuckled, noticing Yamato drop in his seat like a ragdoll, a very sore one.

Yamato gave him a distasteful scowl. "You knew  _exactly_  how he would react."

"I'd be lying if I denied it. But I didn't think he would outright attack you like that."

"Well, he did what any cornered animal does."

"Comparing him to an animal? Oh, come now."

"Kakashi," Yamato said, getting down to it. "We know he's innocent but there is absolutely no hard evidence to even begin to counter the evidence we have stating otherwise. Not without Ichiraku's alibi and, well, you know how that turned out."

"So we simply change our approach. Instead of focusing on the Uchiha end, like they want us to, we look at Naruto, we ask why. How his prints ended up on that knife. And, how they got his prints in the first place."

"That's right...They even had his palm prints, and not even  _we_  have that. So it's not like it was someone who could hack our files."

"Yes, we take the search to their apartment. Look for something either missing or out of place."

For the first time, in a long while, Sasuke spoke up. "Impossible."

Kakashi turned, looking to the Uchiha boredly. "What was that?"

"I said impossible. Our apartment. I would have known if someone came in there. Not to mention it is literally impossible to break into."

"You exaggerate."

Sasuke looked at him gloomily. "If the Uchiha did anything right, it was security. I personally installed state of the art tech into our place. So, again, it was impossible for anyone to have picked his prints up from there. And if you don't believe me, try breaking in yourself."

"I will," Kakashi said. "But later. For now, we need to get our brat back before someone else does."

Yamato pulled the notes from Kakashi and circled almost the whole entirety of the timelines. "It's more than the prints though. What about the time? Where did he really go if not to Ichiraku Ramen?"

Kakashi stared at him blandly. "Yamato, we can't expect people to just recall every detail and location right on the dot, especially at night."

"I beg the differ. For example, where were you while all this was happening?"

Kakashi was quiet for a moment. Then: "Drunk."

A mortified expression came over Yamato suddenly as he remembered that it was the anniversary. "Oh, I forgot, I'm so sorry!"

"Nevermind that, what about you? You weren't in bed in the wee hours of the morning, not close enough to be sent in my stead, were you?"

Yamato looked down. "I was following an old lead on the other side of town. Turned out to be a dead end."

"See? We all have our secrets in the night. He has his. It just happens to be on the worst day possible. But still, I can't help feel this is some great orchestration."

"What do you mean, Kakashi?"

He looked back to the notes and sighed. "I mean this is the greatest hoax in Purge history. But why? Wait a minute. What's the date today?"

Yamato looked at him funnily. "It's the fourth."

"Un, you know what next Tuesday is?"

"It'll be the tenth?"

"Exactly."

Yamato stared at him. "What happens the tenth?"

But Kakashi was already gone.

_-xxxxxx-_

The house was a small, humble place. On its tables and walls were picture frames and old memorabilia from kids to their teacher. A silver apple frame, some drawings. A ramen container stuffed with fake flowers. Beside that, an old wooden picture frame. It's picture of a young man, not even married, standing beside a twelve-year-old brat.

It was one of the first pictures of him that was taken and not filed away. Filed away at Purge as evidence for child neglect and abuse.

Instantly putting those thoughts behind, Naruto turned to see his old teacher and past foster parent staring at him, a cup of tea in his hands. He would have just gotten off work, so had thrown on a pair of old sweats and a raggy t-shirt to relax in.

Smiling grimly, Naruto waved to the man. Even after these past few years of knowing him, his appearance had never changed. A scar across his face from a childhood accident that killed his parents. The same hairstyle, always tucked away in a short tail, high at the back of his head. A warm smile. "Hey, Iruka."

"Naruto? What, um, are you doing here?"

"I, uh, just, I needed some money and..."

He hated having to come here and bother Iruka (he had hoped to slip right in and out, the key to the house hidden under a yard feature) just to break into his old stash. But everything he had, his wallet, his phone, all of it was still had Purge Headquarters and until he busted this case, he couldn't go back. He couldn't be found either.

"Oh, go right ahead—your old room's not been touched since you last visited. Might be a bit dusty."

They went to his old room, there, was a ceramic frog he had made in school. In its mouth, was a hidden slot to slip bills through but the bottom had no place to actually retrieve the money. He had sculpted it with the purpose to only be used in the most extreme circumstance, as it would require shattering to get to the money.

When he had moved out, he didn't take it in fear that he would spend it. It and a few other childhood things, comics, manga, VCR tapes, and a tiny TV and an old game console were still here, just as he had left them when he was thirteen.

Naruto picked the frog bank up now, wanting to chuckle at how ugly it looked, how ugly and horribly proportioned and painted the thing actually was, having been made by a kid. "I used to think I was the bomb for such an  _exquisite_  piece."

Behind him, Iruka laughed. "I still remember you making that thing. And throwing clay at one of the bullies."

Naruto busted into laughter. "I totally forgot! Man, his parents got so mad!"

Iruka's expression sobered. "Those were good years, Naruto. Shame they didn't last long."

"Heh, well I did have a godfather after all..."

"I know. And while I'm glad he came back, I still worried about you a lot, and I wish Jiraiya didn't whisk you away and into the Purge. Every day, even to this day, I still worry someone's going to shoot you in a place there's no saving. Protective vests only get you so far."

Naruto briefly set the bank back down on the shelf. "Iruka, he didn't drag me into the Purge. I did it myself. I saw what he did, and I wanted to do that stuff too. To help people. People who had worse backgrounds than I did. Not everyone was lucky to have you. So when he saved me, I leaped into place and even now I don't regret that."

"Saved you?" Iruka repeated, brow drawn down, his forehead crinkled. "From what?"

"That's right, I never told you..."

"Told me what, Naruto?"

"Remember that time I was gone until late at night, and I came home in a Purge car. I was like twelve, it had only been a few months since I started living with you. You ever wonder why they didn't come to the door with me even though I'd told you I had been caught stealing?"

"I suppose so. It has crossed my mind since then."

"Yes, you grounded me for a month. And I took it because I didn't want you to worry."

Something dawning on him, Iruka frowned. "It was a lie, wasn't it?"

Naruto nodded. "They didn't drop me off home because of a theft. It was a kidnapping, I only lied because I was afraid you would worry and see me as a threat. A target for the Akatsuki. I was afraid you would kick me out and I didn't want to be alone again. It was selfish, I know, but I really didn't want to—"

"Naruto, I would have never done something like that to you, alright? And what do you mean kidnapping?"

"I got mixed up with the Akatsuki...I didn't want you to know...but I guess it doesn't matter anymore."

"Tell me what happened, Naruto."

* * *

He was twelve, new to the proper house and family routine, walking home. Knew he needed to get home on time or Iruka would be upset and the only reason they didn't go home together from the school was because Iruka had to stay after it to grade papers. And unlike before, Naruto had to be wary of time. But being so also caused patterns, and nothing invites incidents better than patterns. Routine. That's how they made their plans to intercept him.

It was on the road far from human eyes when he noticed a car following him. He at first thought it was nothing, that is until he took their speed into account. They were purposely going slow. He started to run, was going to cut through the grassy field, when something latched onto his backpack, pulling him backward and into the car.

From there, blackness.

He was taken to a ratty house in what he assumed was some random ghetto. Outside, at the back, there was a door, and in front of it, a broken screen door, barely hanging on its hinges. It led to a dark basement.

Naruto stopped, instinctively tensing up.

"Move it!" a deep voice snapped, smacking him. The boy tumbled forward, falling. It was a wonder nothing broke as he tumbled down the stairs and crumbled to the floor, groaning at the impact.

Above him, the nose of the gun hovered, pointing at him threateningly. It was just light enough that he could see the glisten of the metal. The smaller of the two flipped a light switch and dim lights overhead flickered on. Giving him his first real view of the two.

The big one was so pale it gave him a slight blue tint, only aided by some tattoos that he had under his eyes that resembled gills. His teeth were also unnaturally sharp. He wore the Akatsuki jacket, he just didn't know the name at that time, only that there was something ominous about the single red cloud, surrounded by black...

_You want to know why we wear red clouds, Naruto._

_Sixteen then. Down._

_A reminder of how between the Purge's crosshairs and innocent civilian lives, blood rains._

_Paralysis._

_Love._

The cloud, he wore it later, and then, and dark pants which sported a waist guard. Across his chest was a thick strap that held what Naruto feared was a legit sword. Subtly was not in this guy at all.

The smaller of the two, who stood behind the Shark Man had a hood up, hiding his face in shadow but had just as threatening an aura about him. Naruto couldn't discern anything distinct about him other than that a tail of dark hair was poking from the hood by his neck and that even in shadow, there was just something about his eyes, the utter sharpness of his gaze.

Naruto scrambled back in fear until he was pressed against the wall, shaking against it. "L-look," he said, trying to muster any strength he could into his voice. "You got the wrong kid. I don't have any parents to pay you..the hostage!"

Was the both of them smiling? The big man, in particular, had a vicious smirk on his face.

"This kid's a riot."

"Kisame," the younger of the two intoned. "He talks too much. Why don't you look for some duct tape."

"With pleasure."

Now Naruto was positively trembling. Even though the bigger threat of the two had literally just walked out the door and seemingly his chances of escape had just improved, something about the dark-haired one kept him frozen in place. And it wasn't the gun they both knew he had strapped to a holster on his thigh.

But, as scared as he was right now, Naruto had no intention of dying, so he leaped at the man, punching away. He aimed for his stomach but each attempt was smacked away and evaded so easily he might as well been a baby. Unlike him, the man clearly had experience and overpowered him easily, tripping his feet so he was back-first on the floor. Before he could even react and bounce back up, the man was seizing his wrists. Naruto shook, trying to resist but the man remained firm. Locked onto him.

"Look at me," he commanded. At some point, his hood had come down.

Naruto shook his head, closing his eyes. "Monster!"

An unbelievably calm voice responded back. "Naruto, I am not what you think I am."

Hearing his name, the boy opened his eyes in surprise. Against his wishes, his eyes were drawn to the man's face. Almost captivated.

He had seen this man before, but where?

Again, a quiet "Look at me, Naruto," was spoken.

And he did, looked closely at his face, quietly studying it until he began to recognize different features.

"You," he began. "You look like Sasuke, from school."

This man indeed was best described as an older Sasuke, with a similar but more adult facial structure and hairline. His was longer though and was parted so his bangs hung down nearly past his chin. His eyes, his eyes screamed Sasuke but had strange lines running down them, slanted.

The man nodded, pleased at his answer and began whispering. "Yes, my full name is Itachi Uchiha."

"His name is Uchiha too..."

"Do you know what a double agent is, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded and Itachi smiled. "Then you know that as a member of the Purge, I can't allow harm to come to you. True, the Akatsuki becoming involved with you was not part of the equation..."

He paused, seeming actually worried.

"Wh-Why would the Purge even care about me?" he asked quietly but he was ignored. He also couldn't help notice that Itachi had not released his wrists and they were starting to hurt from the vice-grip Itachi had on him. He also couldn't help stare at the ring on his finger. A rather bulky thing with a Japanese character on it. Just like the one Kisame had on his hand, but a different color and character.

Doubt began to creep in. This guy had the coat, even a matching ring No, he had to be brave. No matter what happened.

"Tell me Naruto," Itachi said after a moment of thinking, "is there a mark on you? One that looks like a tattoo? I just need a confirmation"

Naruto's complexion came as of a ghost.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble," Itachi quickly said. "And I will not look at it without your permission. I know of others like yourself that tend to be self-conscious."

Naruto still stared at him.

"I-Itachi...What's going to happen?"

The young man smiled reassuringly and collected his wrists into one hand so he could use the other to reach for something. "Nothing, I'll just need you to bear this for awhile and help will come."

Footsteps sounded. Somewhere near there was a crash sound.

"I also need you to cry, preferably quietly."

Naruto instantly seized up in terror, looking desperately to Itachi for help.

"I don't want him to hurt me! Please let me go now, I wanna go home!"

"He won't hurt you if you do as you're told. His bark is far worse than his bite, alright? Now I'm going to tie—"

"No! I mean how can I know you're not  _really_ a bad guy and—"

"You're just going to have to trust me."

Under him, Naruto was squirming, trying his hardest to get free. "No, I don't! Now let me go, you brute!"

Itachi slammed his fist into Naruto's stomach. The boy crumbled from the impact and a cry rang out before it quieted into a more contained tear-filled groan.

"I apologize, Naruto, but it is necessary."

The man deftly tied his hands behind his back and threw his shoes across the room. He dumped his backpack as well, making sure to make it look like he had searched Naruto. He had just finished when Kisame entered back into the room, throwing a satchel down which seemed to be stuffed.

Tears were running down the young Naruto's l eyes and he twisted at the ropes. "Please," he said. "L-let me go! I have some m-money, it's not a lot b-but—If you kill me you'll regret it! People will come for you!"

Cold fingers grabbed his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself.  _Hating_  himself for failing to protect himself earlier. If only he had been stronger, older, more capable...He would kick these guys' butts!

Kisame proceeded to put tape over his mouth and threatened that if he even tried anything that they would hurt him. Itachi made a show of telling him many ways he could hurt him that wouldn't leave marks for any Purge member to find. The ways were surprisingly vast and all sounded painful and plausible. So much so Naruto became very much afraid of Itachi all over again, fearing him even more than the giant.

"...So you will sit there and not move, understand?"

Glaring only got him so far, leaving him with the lone option of just sitting there, his back to the wall as the men began conversing softly to each other.

Kisame was pacing as Itachi spoke out of concern.

It had taken Itachi a few moments to even bring it up and clear distress over the subject matter could be heard in his tone.

"We have a problem, Kisame."

" _What_?"

"He isn't the one."

Kisame suddenly turned around, facing Itachi so hard it was amazing he didn't have whiplash. "What do you mean?!"

"I searched every inch of him. He's not one of the nine carriers."

The man became angry. "So all of that for nothing?! How could have our intel been wrong!?"

"This is Zetsu we are talking about, and you know, anything he does or confirms is liable to be called into question."

"What do we do with this brat  _now_?"

Itachi's eerie calmness didn't falter for a moment.

"He is just an orphan. True that means we can't even use him for ransom but at least no one will ask too many questions when he disappears. We drug and toss him in the river. People will assume he fell in on his way home if we leave his backpack on the bridge."

"Yes, I like that. Tonight, I want out of here by dawn"

Not liking the sound of that, Naruto began struggling against the rope. That is until suddenly a fist was crashing against the wall, millimeters from his face. Kisame was right in front of it, the scent of his breath sour.

"What did I tell you?" he growled slowly, small and rather beady eyes blazing into Naruto's.

Naruto, feeling surprisingly brave glowered at him and the man smirked.

"Keep it up, brat."

He just wanted to go home now, back to Iruka. He'd even take the Foster Devils over these two.

Reflecting on this, Naruto sighed and curled up further, turning so he was leaning against the wall, faced away from them.

Time passed. Food came, for them, not him, which was downright cruel, and the light outside changed. Only so many more shades until they went through with Itachi's plan...A little after that point, Kisame left the room, assumably for a bathroom break. The moment he did, Itachi pulled a flip phone out and began texting on it. Naruto watched him do so warily. Pushing the 'send' button, their eyes met and Itachi spoke, closing the device with a snap.

"He's already on his way, here."

_Who?_

Naruto was conflicted on whether this guy was for real or not. But true enough. Help did come, so suddenly that Naruto barely knew what was happening. All he knew was a scream— "How'd they find us?!"— and the harsh pressure of a gun being pressed to his temple as he was grabbed and held hostage by Kisame's thick muscular arm.

"Make any move and I'll blow this kid's brain out!"

An older man with big square shoulders and long white hair tied by a band stood before them. A Purge badge glistened on his red vest, which he wore over a green uniform. Then the strange man smirked, a smile so confident Naruto was both shocked and fascinated by it. They clearly had the upper hand but this guy...

"That's not a nice way to treat your guest, now is it?"

With perfect speed and movement, the man knocked the gun out of Kisame's hand with a sudden swat of his hand. Naruto hit the floor and next thing he knew again, the men were tangled in a hand-to-hand brawl. Scooting back, he watched in amazement as the smiling man took the giant on, even able to stay on his feet after the sword had been pulled into the fight. He was able to parry the attacks with just a simple combat knife.

And Naruto smiled, utterly captivated.

Even when he was nicked or knocked into the wall, he never gave it up. And he made it clear he wasn't going to until his rescue mission was complete.

It was this moment that Naruto knew he wanted this man to train him to be like him.

When it was all over and Naruto was seated in a squad car, the house now surrounded by many of them, he continued to stare at the man beside him, smiling giddily as a fanboy.

"That was amazing!" he squealed.

The man smiled back, rubbing the back of his head. "So were you. Most kids would be crying."

"But you had him and then you were like using karate and holy crap, please train me! Mister..."

"Jiraiya. It's just Jiraiya, Naruto."

Naruto was too excited to even notice he had used his name. Instead, nearly bounced on him.

"Please, please, please,  _please_!"

"Um. Well, I guess there's no helping it now."

This same statement was being repeated across from them in a separate car. A silver one. Itachi was talking to the driver who seemed angry.

"...dragging him into this!"

"I had no choice."

"Itachi," it hissed, but then taking a calming breath, "he was supposed to be left alone."

"All due respect,  _sir,_ but he was destined to be drug into this world of ours sooner or later. And if you ask me, the sooner you do, the sooner you can prepare him for what is inevitable."

Soon after that, his days at Iruka's house were replaced with stays at Jiraiya's, training and learning. He could tell it saddened Iruka when he left, but he and Jiraiya were quick to get along and it wasn't long until he was calling him sensei.

By the age of fifteen, after three years of training with them, he was joining the Purge himself as a minor member.

Then the Akatsuki killed Jiraiya.

It had been one of the two darkest days in his life and for the first time since being welcomed into a home with a loving smile by a teacher, Naruto lived alone again. He did not go back to Iruka's. No, just himself this time, old enough to take on the responsibilities and bills.

And he did until Sasuke moved out of his parents a little later on, his inheritance ripped from him.

It was fun at times, but nothing could replace that almost father and son like relationship that had been there before.

"Iruka, I don't think I've ever properly thanked you for taking me in. you had no reason to, but you did."

Iruka smiled. "I saw a kid who needed help. And I in turn needed you too. Which is why it hurts me, what's going on right now."

"Yeah," he said. "Someone killed Sasuke's family and they think I—"

"I know."

He raised a brow. "How? Waitaminute."

There was only one reason Iruka would know Naruto was being accused. Cursing, he threw the bank down and scrambled to pick the bills up between the shards of white clay.

Iruka rushed forward, trying to confront him. "Naruto, it's for the best—"

"I'm not going back there until I figure this out!"

"Naruto, he means you no harm."

Kakashi decided it was time to speak for himself. He entered the room, hands tucked in his pockets. It figured he would get here faster in a car than Naruto did on foot. "I just knew you would come here. We have your wallet. Your keys. It's only natural to go back home."

"Shut up! I'm really not happy with you and Cap right now!"

"I know Naruto, but if you're out there, I can't protect you."

"I don't need your protection!"

Like a stand down, they stared each other down, their eyes intense. Kakashi had the height and fortitude but Naruto was  _very_ angry. Rightfully so.

"I will not let you take me in and you  _know_  you can't hold me," he growled. "I will not be a sitting duck, especially when that monster's still out there!"

"Naruto," Kakashi spat back out, "We need you back at the base."

"Not when I told you everything I know! And besides, what happens when no counter evidence is found, tell me that, Kakashi."

He had no answer, not one either of them liked.

"So you want me to just lay my life in your hands, and hope I'm not screwed for life? Na-uh! I can't do that. I have to move, have to figure this out and I can't when I'm under that roof!"

After a minute, Kakashi released a tired breath. "I'm going to regret this, I just know it. Have it your way, but you get the heck out of this town and you hide so no one can find you. You hear me? Until this blows over, you hide from whoever's done this, that is your first and only priority!"

And he left. Just like that.

Glancing to the door he had walked out, Iruka looked to Naruto, the concern for him painfully obvious.

"Where will you go?" he asked, voice vexed by Kakashi's words still. "He's right. You need to hide."

"I dunno. Everyone I know is a friggin' Purger!"

"Naruto, you need to go somewhere. There's a psycho out there who wants you."

"No, someone wants me to stay in confinement. I will not give them that."

"Naruto, you can't stay here. Someone else will come looking for you, whether the people responsible or someone from the Purge. Kakashi was willing to let you go, but that's only for now."

Naruto shook his head, gathering the bills into a single pile. Loose change that amounted to what could afford him a single night stay in a hotel and a few other odd things.. "You know what? I have a plan, alright? I'll figure this out myself."

_-xxxxxx-_

"I still think it's bull crap that they're seriously putting this on him."

The comment was made by Kiba to Squad Nine as they headed for the break room, smelling of fire. They had just gotten back from the Uchiha Estate, having done all they could to help out for the time being. It was well into the afternoon by now and they had been sent back to base until further notice. Beside him, Kiba's dog Akamaru walked along, tail down as even he seemed to sense the grave atmosphere.

"Yeah," Ino said. One of Sakura's best friends since childhood, she had grown to enjoy Naruto's company as well, although it took some maturing on his part. "Like I understand questioning him, but then Captain Yamato legit tried  _confining_ him."

Shikamaru had listened quietly until this point but now made his thoughts on the matter clear.

"That he's one of our officers doesn't even matter. Evidence is still evidence. If we let him slip past the rules, then why not others?"

_Crunch!_

"Still," Choji said, mouth full of chips from a brightly colored bag he had just opened. "He's still an officer. Shouldn't there be special rules or something?"

_Chomp, chomp._

"Exactly," Kiba added. "We all know he didn't do it, no matter what the evidence says."

Shikamaru sighed exasperatedly. "Again, you guys aren't getting the  _point_ , this isn't about him, it's about upholding the rules."

They were quiet for a bit. Then: "Yeah but there should still be exceptions."

Now Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Then there should have been exceptions with Mizuki when he tried stealing top secret files. What if we hadn't detained him? He would have gotten away, and he was an officer too. And as for Naruto, even if he didn't do this, someone out there did. We would have protected him, now...He's on his own."

They shut up for a little bit after that, but then the discussion began again, shifting into a debate, then a straight-up argument between Shino and Kiba once the bug specialist and squadmate had clocked in, Kiba was always particularly...passionate in debates. Fights rather.

"Oh come on," Ino moaned. "Can we  _not_  do this, boys!"

But all when silent when Sakura came in, taking a long, slow sip of coffee by the sink. A forlorn aura was practically radiating off of her. It didn't take long to figure out why. Mikoto Uchiha's autopsy was about to begin, and she would be the one in charge of it.

Her nearly lifelong friend drifted to her. "You okay?" she asked quietly.

Sakura nodded.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Just another day at the job."

* * *

 **Medical Examiner:** _Haruno, Sakura_

**Case #: 412-2017**

**Autopsy Report**

**DECEASED**

**Name:** _Uchiha, Mikoto_

 **Age:** _49_

 **Race:** _Japanese_

 **Sex:** _female_

 **Length:** _162.6 cm_

 **Weight:** _48.9 kg_

 **Eyes:** _dark brown_

 **Hair:** _black_

 **Blood Type:** A

Sakura filled out the beginning of the report systematically, just as she had done hundreds of times before. The same labs, same protective covering to protect her and the examined from contamination. Face blank, she put pen to paper again.

**Contents in Blood:**

Blood. Blood and the body that had produced the one she loved.

This body was Sasuke's mother.

Suddenly the oblong shape under the white cloth above the bust had a face and she could not unsee it.

The face had fair skin and beautiful dark eyes and hair. A kind-hearted smile. Hopes for the future.

_Mikoto._

She had met her a at least once before, at an event, some city celebration or something. A sweet woman who automatically had taken a liking to her. And because of that, her intentions were made wildly clear.

She had laughed so pleasantly, sipping from a red cup, her eyes scanning Sakura carefully, and rather pleased.

"So you work closely with him, huh? I apologize if he comes off as rude sometimes." She laughed, so full of joy. "Him and his brother. Oh dear, at this rate I don't think Itachi will ever find a woman..." She sighed in mock depression. "But Sasuke, he isn't as buried as he in his job. He's really a good kid, honest. Rough patches here and there...But, well, you know."

She then proceeded to wink at Sakura, elbowing her. "He'd make a good husband. Healthy, dependable, trustworthy...and you two even share the same workplace!"

_God, kill me._

Sakura laughed and made up an excuse to leave, her face beet red.

Ino had a ball afterward when she told her, guffawing heartily. "She  _so_  likes you. Probably afraid if not you then no one will get the attention of her son and give her a grandchild. Better hurry Sakura before you wither!"

**Rigor Mortis:**

The words on the page seemed clinical and empty.

Could a mere page sum a soul up, even its end?

_Mother, and never to be a grandmother, never to hold the baby of her child for the first time. Never to again share embarrassing stories about her boys. Never to grow old, watching her family grow. Never to smile again._

The body under the sheet stared emptily above, a mere shell that could never be repaired. A shell she would never hug or talk with or laugh, speaking of what would soon be the ever growing past. Such a vital part of her future life, before it had even begun, had just become lost to her, forever. And suddenly, that was her own mother laying on the cold slab of metal.

She set the clipboard down, face frozen. "I can't do this," she whispered.

Another examiner in a lab coat beside her looked at her in concern. "What was that?"

"I can't, I can't do this. Excuse me."

_-xxxxxx-_

Outside, Sasuke was sitting quietly to the side, on a bench in the hallway. She collapsed next to him, hugging her arms.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I couldn't finish. I sent Ino to take my place. It'll be a while longer before they confirm anything."

Her head dropped, her bangs falling down.

The air was so grim, her stomach so tense. "How pathetic."

But then he spoke, breaking the silence, not censoring, not angry. Sincere, if solemn. "No, it's really not."

Her breath hitched, goodness she didn't want to cry in front of him, she had no right, but she did though manage a nod. "Thank you..."

They shared an appreciative quiet moment together just sitting there for a little while, both unsure what to do now with the rest of the force seemingly now helping with the case, as they sat still, caught up in the emotions of it.

"Ah, there you are."

Kakashi's voice, he was walking up to them, a sight. Of course he was. He probably hadn't sat down once today. First, it was the Uchiha estate, then chasing after Naruto, and back here again.

"Captain?" Sakura said. "Is there something...?"

"Can I have my keys back now?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I need you two to come in my office."

His office was down a floor and a decent sized one. A nice oak desk covered in books and a computer. A big window behind it, with dark crimson curtains, a swirling emblem stitched on it, some modern family crest, usually adorned by the Alpha of past.

He pointed them to the couch, a soft black thing that sat to the side of the room and he pulled up his desk chair so he could speak across from them.

"Sasuke," he began, "while we search your current apartment, I want you to stay with Sakura."

Sasuke said nothing, merely blinked.

"There's something important I need both of you to do though."

Sakura leaned closer listening intently. Kakashi definitely had something on his mind, casewise, as his tone spoke of something of the utmost importance.

"And if anyone and I mean  _anyone_ , I don't care who it is, or even if their authority is higher than mine, asks...He is staying with me. Understand?"

Now Sasuke's brow furrowed. "Why is it important to lie about where I'll be staying? Someone  _is_ dirty here after all."

"No," he said quickly. "No, but I do know that whoever is responsible has a close eye on us. They were able to get Naruto's prints, know his whereabout that night...They see us too closely to not take such protective measures. So until they are behind bars, you will claim to be staying at my place when in reality, you will be with her. No one will look there."

Suddenly Sakura was pale. "Are they going to come after him?"

"Most likely, yes. I believe they might have been unaware that Sasuke was renting with Naruto."

It was not something Sasuke liked bragging about.

Sakura was biting her lip. "Kakashi, I don't understand why they would target the Uchiha and use Naruto as a decoy."

Kakashi shook his head. "That, my dear, is the question. And until I know, you two are hereby off the case and on vacation. Stay either fortified or keep moving. Whatever you choose, stay in close contact with me. I will update you, but again, stay clear of work until this is over. Rest...Mourn. I'll have your back."

_-xxxxxx-_

Kakashi sat at his desk, staring momentarily, at a group shot of his squad. It had been awhile since the rest of his squad, Sasuke, and Sakura had left together. So grim, stark in comparison to the picture of them on his desk.

It was a selfie, a big one, that Naruto had started to take, then noticing Sakura in his phone, in the background, had drug her in, arm around her shoulder. Then she had seen Sasuke...Pushed Naruto away and clung to his shoulder. And like that, it became a group picture, awkwardly shot from Naruto's arms reach and somehow it still managed to capture everyone, with Yamato and Sai in the back, Sai's head, in particular, poking out from the mass and smiling cheekily, holding up a 'peace' sign. That or trying to give someone from the front the bunny ears...

Oh, when was it taken, what, a few years ago? They were fifteen and sixteen then.

Kakashi almost smiled, remembering that day, taking every inflection in, as if their expressions somehow held the answers. But the past happiness did not. It was the present, which he needed to focus on. He sighed and pulled out his notebook and again, began contemplating on some of the  _whys_ of this case.

Even that though, was nearly completely fruitless as it was speculation. He needed solid evidence. Evidence that said Naruto was framed.

He rummaged through his pockets until he found the plastic bag in it, made up from earlier. As it had been in his pocket, it had survived the blasts. How ironic was that, the one thing they had besides a single body, was just a joke, rather fake evidence at that.

He nearly dropped it in the sleek black trash bin beside his desk when he stopped, eye glued to the strand. Something about it was off. He pulled his lamp head closer, getting a better look at it in the light. Yes, now that he looked at it again and thought back to Temari, what was off about it was now making itself known:

The strand of blond hair was a little darker than Temari's pale blonde hair. In fact, this strand was golden, a hue neither Temari or Naruto had. Meaning they had another piece of the puzzle, evidence of someone, not Naruto, not even the caller, who had been there, on that dominantly black-haired estate.

"Hallelujah," he muttered. "Now let's get you to the lab."

_-xxxxxx-_

The sun was beginning to set on what was probably going to be etched in time as the worst day in Sasuke's life. Sakura's fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Sasuke was seated in the passenger seat, dead silent, staring out the window at the passing businesses.

It was awkward, but she didn't feel right even considering making small talk. How do you even...

No. You couldn't, so she surrendered to the quiet.

It was perhaps halfway to her home that they got stopped at a red light in the midsts of the college town. There lots of older and grand buildings. Some restaurants, one of which they sat across from now. She caught sight of a familiar car parked near it. A light green vehicle.

_Tsunade?_

Focusing, she spotted her mentor and boss' back in the window. Someone was in front of her, they were talking most likely.

She smiled. "Look," she said. "There's Boss. Think she's seeing anyone?"

No answer of course.

"Either way, I'm glad. Sometimes I just feel like she doesn't open herself to anyone outside of work."

Again, nothing.

Sakura trained directly under Tsunade and she always had a feeling that she belonged to someone, but that someone was no longer here. It stunted her, but she didn't let it show. She remained strong...yet while tied by memories of past. A true widow.

But at last, she appeared to be talking to someone outside the circumference of work. Sakura was glad. (Now only if she could find out who later...)

The light turned green.

_-xxxxxx-_

There was a hotel that wasn't too far away but enough so that he called a taxi to get him there after buying a cheap prepaid phone as well as other necessities, clothes, and personal items. Naruto ducked in, keeping his head down. It was cool enough outside that he had dressed for fall, a hat to cover his head and a jacket to help him further look inconspicuous.

The Purge had supplied him with an alias should he need to go undercover. Some random name and backstory. But for whatever purposes, a few months ago he had went to outside sources and had conjured his own fake ID and used it now instead.

He didn't remember why he did it, perhaps just because having a fake identity of his own conjuring was cool. Part of this life's charm. Whatever the case, he was relying on it now because the Purge would find his alias in the hotel's records the moment he was in. Although, now that he thought about it, his own fake ID wasn't exactly subtle...Oh well, too late now. He was already part way through the process of reserving a room.

"Single," he said, "Just myself for two nights."

"Alrighty," the woman at the counter said. "I'll just need an ID and information..."

He slid the fake ID to the woman at the desk, giving a wide smile. He laid the accent on a bit thick but made up for it by making sure he kept eye contact with her the entire time as he leaned across the counter. "Anything, else,  _ma'am_?"

The lady blushed. "No, I just need to finish up putting the information in and you're good, oh and a credit card."

"No problem, honey."

"Oh...So. Menma Namikaze?"

"Yeah, just call me Menma though."

Taking the card back from her, Naruto gave another friendly smile and grabbed the keys.

_-xxxxxx-_

Night had arrived. He could see it from the window of the room they had put him in. Taking its marred view in, Sai closed his eyes.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Hazily, he cracked an eyelid into a thin slit.

_Tap. Tap._

He knew that particularly distinct sound, yes. There was no mistaking that he was hearing it. He tried to straighten himself in his hospital bed out of habit more than anything.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Sai?"

"Yes. Danzo, sir."

Above him hovered the form of his old mentor, Danzo Shimura. An old man who still remained heavily active within the Purge, although mostly on undercover matters.

Sai coughed. "Forgive my appearance, I..."

Danzo cut him off. "There's no need to put up a front, Sai. Surviving a boobytrap of that magnitude is no small feat. I am proud to say you were one of mine."

Sai smiled, pleased. "Thank you...Sir."

Compliments from this man were no small feat either.

But really, what was he here for?

"Danzo, sir," he asked. "I have a feeling you did not just come here to catch up."

"Can't a guardian visit his old trainees?"

Sai frowned. "I guess so. I apologize."

The old man chuckled. "But in all reality, I did not come here merely to acquaint. I know you've been through a lot today. And I would like to discuss that. Until you heal from those third-degree burns, they will not let you back at work."

"I know." He had already asked about that and been shut down. He had worked every day of his life since he had been adopted by the Purge's Root Force. When it was shut down and he absorbed into Seven, he still worked. To be frank, he didn't have a life outside of it and was unsure what he would be doing with himself during the healing process.

"To be frank, Sai, you are an extra person when it comes to that Squad you're with. A surplus member."

Sai was very well aware of this.

"Yes. And?"

" I would like to have you back."

"Excuse me?"

"When you are healed, I wish for your membership once again."

"But Roots was—"

"No, not as Roots. Something more, better, efficient."

Sai's brow furrowed. What was he talking about?

"A new operation. I would like your assistance. Yours for you were always a prized operative of mine."

Sai's brow was still furrowed. Danzo shook his head and turned his head so he was looking out the window. "Sai, my Roots may have been shut down but to this day I still work to improve the Purge, under Tsunade's authority. The Purge is the city's only hope. Without it, a biased and rather prejudiced police force would have run the city, under the influence of petty social standings and even blackmail. When the Purge began, I was thrilled to be a part of it. But it can be so much more, this city needs that, Sai."

"Yes..."

"So, Sai, will you consider leaving the Seventh Squad to join a new initiative?"

Sai looked down. In his mind, he could see Naruto, rolling his eyes and just babbling. He could even hear he, himself, actually laughing.  _Laughing._ A criminal in the back of their car, and Naruto exchanging extremely cheesy quips at him.

Then he remembered his teenage years. Dark and empty rooms. Equally so people, emotionless. But the results...

"I'll think about it, sir, once I've healed."

Danzo smiled, content.

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

**Be here tomorrow for the next part** **.**

**And if you liked this, be sure to follow.**

**And if you**   _ **really**_ **liked this, be sure to leave a review. Tell me the whys so I can keep it in mind while these are being posted.**

**If you hated this, leave a review anyway. I like to think I'm open-minded toward criticism.**


	5. Kakashi's Notebook

**EXCERPTS FROM KAKASHI'S NOTEBOOK**

* * *

**Entry 1**

**6/10/03**

_**I have to keep telling myself, reminding myself that I'm it.** _

_**Made me see a shrink. It's annoying. Skip next session.** _

_**Don't forget eye doctor's fee. See about eyepatch. It distracts other people too much.** _

* * *

**Entry 122**

**2/5/11**

_**New trainees. I hate them. Annoying pissants.** _

_**Namikaze Brat's here too. He's gotten big, lost track of him for awhile. Has a lot of bruises, though. Adult-sized fingermarks.** _

_**Check his home situation.** _

**Entry 124**

**3/5/11**

_**His address is different. Lives with a teacher now. Told me about his home situation previous...I was unaware it had been going on. Captain would kill me if he knew.** _

_**He was** **right.** _

* * *

**Entry 132**

**10/10/13**

_**The kid's birthday. And Suna had to happen. I'm not cut out for this...** _

_**Talk was hard. But I think I like him. He's like his father. Will see if I can be captain over him. Need to. Need to make amends.** _

**Entry 133**

**10/10/13**

_**I saw the man in a dark jacket. He was waiting outside the headquarters. By the time I got outside, he was gone. He seemed suspicious. Ask if I can check surveillance footage later.** _

* * *

**Entry 321**

**2/6/13**

_**Asuma killed today. Hidan. The sad thing? We always kidded around he'd have an early death, with his smoking and all.** _

_**Suddenly that joke's not funny anymore.** _

* * *

**Entry 412**

**26/8/13**

_**I didn't think we'd be able to snap him out of it. It hit him, everyone, suddenly, badly, but that was no excuse to neglect his job. He wasn't even eating. Iruka talked to him though. Must have got through, I sure couldn't, not the way he could. Tomorrow we will hold a memorial for Jiraiya.** _

_**Even the greatest of us must one day pass on. I had just hoped the greatest of us would have been granted by karma a painless and natural death. Besides his teacher, he was the closest thing Naruto had to father. He did a lot better than I ever did.** _

_**I just can't do that.** _

_**This I've brought up time and time again.** _

_**Also, I've noticed Temari has become a reporter. I swear she's around every time we have a case like this, and we have had a lot of them lately. It's been a horrible year for the Purge. The Akatsuki must be taken down, and soon.** _

* * *

**Entry 564**

**15/1/14**

_**Missing persons case is getting bigger. Stranger. Pattern?** _

* * *

**Entry 717**

**12/9/14**

_**Transfers? I've been here for over a decade and never have we had transfers. Inquire about it.** _

* * *

**Entry 720**

**29/9/17**

_**I can't stop laughing, which is hardly appropriate. Suspension trauma he says. I say it's him being an idiot like usual. It could have gone south in a blink of an eye and he just winks it off and complains how his arms hurt. Kid's a riot. One day this is going to go too far, thing's will go the wrong way and I wonder how the kid will react then.** _

_**I sadly imagine him still laughing.** _

_**Interrogate Kakuzu personally.** _

* * *

**Entry 722? 227? 1 dose**

**3/4/10/17**

_**Just my luck, he's not there. I really don't understand this recent initiative. Order's here.** _

_**rum bull. still heer et.** _

_**That tim again. i tked to them & put roses on their bds** _

* * *

**Entry 723**

**4/10/17**

_**Saw Him again. A stalker? What's the creep want from me? Would be nice if I could live without carrying a gun 24/7.** _

_**If get close enough, interrogate. I know it's the exact same person.** _

_**Also, buy medication for headache and coffee. Lots more coffee.** _

_**Ask Tsunade what her special tonic is too. Coffee's only so effective and I know she has her own methods.** _

**Entry 724**

**4/10/17**

_**It's happening again. Is the past really so inescapable that even death itself must not only repeat but mutate to this degree? I am fighting to keep them together but already I can see the telltale cracks web across my team. He just cocked the gun and fired. Just like that. As if these past few years have meant nothing.** _

_**I fear the worst. Something irreversible is about to happen. It's been bubbling for a while now, just not from my boys.** _

 


	6. The Third

 

" _You know what? I have a plan, alright? I'll figure this out myself."_

* * *

**SEVEN DEVILS**

**The Third**

* * *

There was a small, rounded cage, on the table, at the edge. Its bars were silver and the feathers within white. Blue eyes peered at it, the pupils dilated so much so, the black was on the cusps of taking the over the blue. Mydriasis. Permanent.

It was not the only condition left behind in the watcher's body...There was damage left behind in his dominant arm, or rather a lack of complete healing.

The man watched his pet keenly like this for a minute or so before pulling back with a sigh. At his feet, under the table, and in the corner was a bag with dark residue stained onto it. Blood.

_-xxxxx-_

To be frank, Naruto had no clue where to even begin.

He had been framed by someone with a lot of power and knowledge of the Purge, and, uncomfortably, his own schedule apparently. If they had stalked him for it, he had never sensed their presence or suspected a thing.

That same person or persons had also taken the entire Uchiha family out, save for the ones who had not been on the estate that night. So basically the two that had defected from the Uchiha legacy to join the Purge, Itachi, and his younger brother, Naruto's squadmate and previous roommate, Sasuke.

If any others had gotten away or survived it would not be known for some time unless they revealed themselves because the estate had been booby-trapped to explode and destroy all evidence. The plan to do so had been successful, save for one potential remnant, the body of Mikoto which had been just outside the gates. But what counter-evidence could she provide when the other evidence that had been gathered before the explosions did nothing but point its ugly finger at Naruto, not only that but in a way that he could not disprove?

There was nothing he could do as is. Nothing but deny with only words the tangible damning evidence. His handprints on the murder weapon, the fact he had not come home that night... This was solid fact and indisputable. And it wasn't even the worse, Naruto reflected, there was the fact that one of the victims had randomly contacted and invited him to converse with them there the night it had gone down, and that night, after which he had not returned home. No, he had passed out in his car outside a restaurant. One that, according to the owner, he apparently had  _not_ eaten at? Ugh.

He rubbed his hands through his head, fingers tangling up in his bangs, sitting on the edge of the hotel bed. He had felt woozy yesterday morning. Maybe he had imagined the night before, specifically the act of eating at Ichiraku's. Maybe he had driven there out of habit, then ended up falling asleep in the parking lot...

_Just the act of talking to Sasuke's father and trying to understand what the heck he was even saying was exhausting..._

No. He was not the one at fault here, and he would not let the case win, frankly because he couldn't afford to. A life in prison for a crime he didn't commit? No thanks. But neither was living on the run going to suit him. He wanted to come back home and solve cases. Right wrongs.  _Help_ people. Because every day, some jerk was going to take things too far and the people around them would get hurt. It was his job to help both parties...

So his only true option was to bust this case himself. Yes, cheeky one, this case, and its orchestrator. Think they had him, huh? Not on his watch.

He dialed a number into a disposable phone he had just bought as everything that had been on him before, his cell and wallet, had been taken into Purge custody yesterday.

"Hey Ino," he said after she had picked up.

" _Oh geez,"_  she said on the other end, yawning. She would have just gotten to work. Probably at the coffee machine right now. " _What do you want? Aren't you supposed to, you know, be on the run? Why're you calling me, huh? Trying to get me in trouble?"_

"Geez yourself," he said back. "Can't I call to see how a fellow Purger is doing? Things are pretty hectic right now, right?"

She laughed. " _You aren't fooling anyone. You_ want  _something."_

He smiled.

"I'll be honest. You and Sakura are close. Any news on the case yet. From the autopsy?"

" _Naruto,"_ she said slowly. " _First of all, Sakura's not on the case anymore. She's on vacation. So leave her alone! And secondly, I'm not going to discuss the case with you either. You're supposed to be in hiding, right? Then stay there. We don't need your trouble."_

Naruto was grinning now, wanting to laugh out loud. They had no doubt been told he would want intel and not to give him any for his own safety.

"Fine, don't tell me about the autopsy. What about the caller, they're harmless."

There was an exaggerated sigh on the other end. " _Naruto...Please stop. I'm not going to blab to you, only for you to get yourself in trouble. Then when they kill you because you're stupid and reckless and won't listen to a word anyone says, it won't be on me. It'll be_  you _, all_  your  _fault."_

_Thanks for the vote of confidence. Sheesh._

He could have tried to refute her, but instead rewarded her with a long pause, as if he was taking in her words and considering them. "Maybe you're right...I need to stay in hiding. I mean you guys have got this, right?"

" _Exactly."_

She sounded pleased now, her words cocky even. Heh, cute.

"But I need you do something for me and come here on your lunch..."

There was a groan that came through the speaker this time. He waited for a half-second before he dropped it.

"I'll let you cut my hair."

A long pause.

Finally: " _Ugh, I hate you,_  so  _much. Where are you?"_

_-xxxxx-_

Ino had just hung up on Naruto when she'd heard the ruckus. Kakashi was coming into the breakroom, an exhausted expression on his face. From what she could tell by his one visible eye. It seemed...tired. His posture as well. It seemed as if he hadn't slept. "Ino," he said, catching sight of her. "Have you seen..."— _oh crap!_ —"Shikamaru."

She fought back a sigh of relief, her racing heart slowing to normal. What if he had heard the conversation? No, the room had been empty at the time. "No," she said, shrugging. "Why?"

"I need him in for an interrogation."

Huh. She could hear a voice in the hallway, female. Sounded angry.

"Ah, why don't you check to see if he's in with Shiho? I think he was trying to help recover footage saved from the Uchiha's security files."

"I will, thanks."

After he had left, she withdrew her breath, relaxing. They had better crack the case soon because she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. Any secrete, big or small, always came to light and she didn't want to be there when it did.

* * *

Their eyes caught together. Earnest. And the flare that had been there faded, in the teal.

Her eyes were strange, he thought offhand, glancing back down, not quite blue or green but caught in the middle.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, setting a notebook down on the table. They were in an interrogation room, this one a simple questioning, nothing more. Temari sat at the table across from him. She had called the Purge late Tuesday, early Wednesday, saying she had seen suspicious activity around the Uchiha Estate. The questioning was supposed to be based around that.

"It's been awhile," she started. She then smiled. "Slacker."

Shikamaru gave a half-smile. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

She shrugged and leaned forward, the expression on her face suddenly becoming serious. "You know...It was only recently but I heard what happened a while back..."

They hadn't seen each other for a long time. Not really. And certainly not since...

_The table, cruelly cold. Marked. Symbols. Blood..._

_His captain's._

_He had stood outside, a cigarette in his mouth, staring at the stars while inside...the scene was processed._

Shikamaru's mouth drew in a firm line. "He's still here, behind bars. He won't be getting out."

Temari nodded. "Good."

They both had personal reasons to loathe the Akatsuki.

Which led Shikamaru to his first main question. "The figure you thought you saw, what did they look like?"

_Could it be one of the released ex-members? No, why would they be at it again, so soon and without their leader?_

Temari shook her head, the tail of fair hair swaying with the motion. "I could not get a good look. I was far away. It was just a silhouette in the night, running out to the west from the front gates."

Shikamaru nodded, writing that down.

"The silhouette, anything noticeable about them?"

"It was fleeting, Shikamaru, I was far away but I think they had a big bag on them and I would assume they were male by the...shape."

"Right."

That didn't exactly narrow it down but it was something and he wrote it down.

Now for the question they both knew he would ask and both hated it the same.

"What were you doing out at that time of night?"

She frowned, her gaze not leaving Shikamaru's.

"Look," she said slowly. "You guys know everything I do. But what I was doing before...that's my business."

Shikamaru wanted very much to wring her neck. But he smiled politely. "Temari...You're not going to help with that..."

Her eyes narrowed but he remained firm and spoke hushedly, "This case, a lot of people are dead and you want to know something? The murder weapon had Naruto's prints all over it."

Her jaw dropped, her eyes widening.

"Yes. So if you care about him, you'll help us out and put your personal grudges to the side. Or he's going to be their scapegoat because as of this moment, there's not a speck of counter-evidence."

She looked down, grim. "How?" she began. "Who would...Who would frame him, why? Why  _him_?"

"That's what we need to find out. So, Temari, you going to help us or not?"

_-xxxxx-_

The leaves outside her apartment window were on the cusps of changing, not yet fully converted to the warm colors of the early fall season.

Sakura watched the wind blow through the tree branches outside her window, feeling cold even though she was safely inside her room. Eventually, she mustered the energy to climb out of her bed, unsure about the day before her.

Her apartment felt awkward with the presence of Sasuke in the living room. She had offered to sleep on the couch last night but he had reclined and just plopped down on it, leaning his head on the back, eyes closed. It wasn't sleep through, deep reflection because a while later he had helped himself to a glass of water.

Water was all he had consumed since then. A couple of glasses.

Covering her rather dumpy but comfortable PJs, a pair of baggy and faded pants and long sleeve shirt, she slipped a light pink robe on and tiptoed out of her bedroom. She found him already up and propping his elbows on her coffee table, his fingers clasped together as he so often did when he was deep in thought. She swallowed. "Good morning."

"Hn."

"Is there anything you want for breakfast? Anything I can do for you?" she asked gently, feeling the atmosphere intensify, mostly her own doing. Her own fear of saying something wrong or doing something wrong in this delicate time period.

"No."

She was amazed he had actually said a word. After they had arrived yesterday evening, the entire night no matter how gently she spoke, she had received nothing but the usual "hn" and rather cold shoulder. She understood he was upset and hadn't meant it in any way other than a simple 'no' but…Well. It wouldn't do forever.

He couldn't lock himself up in this, as he had done with troubles before. Because he had done this but this time, this was so much graver of a situation. This wasn't battling an addiction and his brother, this was dealing with an all-out massacre, butchery of his own family.

What did he feel now? He had not been close to them, not as close to them as his mother. Was it remorse or regret? Just despair? Apathy? No. He cared, he just didn't know how to express that to others well. He never had.

She herself had never before lost a close loved one so she didn't know what it felt like, but she had seen the ever so jovial Naruto go through it when he had heard of the great Jiraiya's death. She had never seen Naruto so down before…It was downright depressing to see him sulk so much. What brought him back from his mourning was a little bit of time and compassion from loved ones. She wanted to do the same for Sasuke but the Uchiha wasn't the type to wait on either, unfortunately.

She sighed and went into her small kitchen to compile some form of breakfast, knowing he wouldn't eat anything she offered even if she was the greatest cook on earth and went through the trouble of making an entire meal. So simple cereal with raspberries thrown in for her it was.

She had eaten half the bowl when he came behind her. His mere presence coming behind her sent tingling sensations up her spine. "Can I see your cell phone?"

She didn't have a landline. His phone must have died then for him to be asking to use hers. He must have known that she had a charger for her phone in her room. Yet he hadn't asked her for it. Had that been because he hadn't wanted to wake her or because he just didn't want to talk to her further last night?

The sudden question surprised her and she couldn't speak for a moment but finally, she managed to pull the device from her pocket. "Sure thing. If there's anything else I can do for you let me know, okay? And you're welcome to grab my charger for yours, it's beside the bed."

"I will. Thanks." He grabbed the phone. Who was he going to call? Everyone he knew was either dead or worked for PH…Sakura quickly finished her bowl and threw it in the sink.

The Uchiha dialed a number he and only he, knew. It rung a few times but after the third, he heard the familiar voice he had always respected so much growing up go  _"Yeah?"_

"Itachi."

Sakura's eyes widened as she lingered behind the couch he had dropped down into again. She had forgotten all about Sasuke's brother.

"So…Have you—hang on a moment." Sasuke put his finger on the speaker and stared at Sakura. "Do you mind?" he asked.

She shook her head, mortified. She left the living room but still, she could not resist the urge to listen in as she waited in the hallway…

 _Oh man, why am I doing this? Stop it, Sakura, this isn't right!_ Another part of her reasoned with herself that was doing so out of concern...

"So, have you heard yet?"

_So he's going to tell him?_

"Well, maybe if you give people your number once in a while and quit being such a lone-wolf."

_You're one to talk..._

"Anyway, someone attacked the estate the night before. Everyone's dead."

Sakura grimaced. How could he be so blunt?

There was a long pause that nearly drove Sakura nuts. She really had no business snooping in but she was worried about her squadmate as she had the right to be. She then heard him utter five words that could either mean nothing or absolutely everything:

"You don't seem surprised. Why?"

_-xxxxx-_

It was a little before noon, and soon before he was expected to sign out of that room when Ino arrived.

"I need to be unrecognizable," Naruto was saying, letting her into his hotel room. "But not completely. So just a personal update, y'know?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ino was saying, taking her shoes off. To the side, she was dropping a bag. He could have just gone somewhere for the haircut but he would rather save every cent he could and fish for information in the meanwhile. He could only get so far with the bare minimum he knew now.

"Just a new style, but one that would suit me. Needed a change up anyway..."

She bit, and really had taken hold of the bait the moment he had dangled the opportunity over the phone, knowing full well she had wanted to "fix" his hair already for quite some time.

"Which I've been telling you a long time, you look like a kid with that bedhead of yours."

"Ino, there's nothing wrong with my current style, I mean if anything, it's tamer than Jiraiya's...See? But now I just need a slight update to keep me a bit, well, better hidden."

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, pushing him into a chair. She stood above him, tilting his face up, eyes carefully studying it.

"Nothing wild," he said. "I don't want no dye or crazy buzz cuts."

She smiled. "Please, you think that low of me, huh? I know how to work with is naturally provided."

"For a flower shop," he grumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I said you did a good job on Sakura's hair a while back, really did, um, pop."

" _Please_ , it was just a trim to even that butchery out. She had such beautiful long hair then..."

She hadn't grown it out since.

"Really," she commented offhand, "I'm surprised you even remembered my number."

He hadn't. He had to look up her family-owned flower shop, call it, say his phone and all its contacts had been stolen and told them he needed to contact Ino. A regular detective. He smiled. After this case, he should look into moving up...

Ino curved her finger under his front bangs and lifted the hair up. "I think I have it. These bangs? They're going."

"Wait, what?"

She smiled. "Honey, you want a new look, then let me do my thing and no complaints. You're getting a short haircut. It'll really bring up your age for you. And by that, I mean to make you look like the adult you're supposed to be, and not the wild child."

"You're not touching my bangs!"

Ino's fists balled at her hip. "You want me to fix this up or not? Else whoever is after you is gonna spot you in a second. It only takes a single bullet to shut you up for good, and these bangs, might as well put a target on it."

He grimaced. "Fine..."

She beamed. Victory.

As she began the cut in the bathroom, in front of the mirror (which he avoided looking at), he began his line of questioning once more, although he tried to play it more subtle this time.

"So what's everyone else up to in this mess?"

She hummed, focusing her hands on their task.  _Snip, snip_. Naruto, again, fought back a grimace. He had for as long as he could remember, kept his hair length consistent.

"Well, Shikamaru had to do an interrogation this morning."

"Shikamaru?" he said, fighting back a surprised chuckle.

"Yeah," she said. Hair began to fall. Oh dear, he was going to be bald.

"Nnn, the witness, the one who called this one in yesterday morning, would not speak to Captain Hatake, at all. And I mean, at  _all_.

Naruto smiled. "I think I know who it is, let me guess, someone by the name of Temari. Blonde hair always keeps them in tails."

She paused. "How'd you know?"

"It's a homicide case, and she hates Kakashi's guts."

She scoffed. "Yeah, she does. Shikamaru told me after how worried he had been but when it was all said and done he was really relieved. They got along really well...Which was hilarious considering how rude she was towards the captain."

"Yeah, it's just Kakashi she does that to."

"That's kind of funny. I mean Kakashi was really annoyed." She paused. "You know...They'd make a cute couple. I mean afterward, she even gave him her phone number..."

She had clearly switched back to her squadmate, Shikamaru now.

She babbled on for a while about this, the exciting prospect that Shikamaru might actually be interested in a girl because someone actually challenged him for once and bla bla blah, Naruto had tuned out by this point. Girl talk bored him and he bet the only reason she was gossiping with him was because Sakura was unavailable to babble with at the moment.

Temari was the caller. Of course she was. Whatever she knew would easily be at his disposal. Then probing Ino was no longer necessary. He would need someone else now...

"There. All done."

Naruto jolted from his thoughts, looking up and into the mirror before him. Someone nearly identical yet different, maturer stared back.

"You really have a decent face," she said from behind, smiling at him through the mirror. "I mean it's not Sasuke's, but...With a shorter cut, it matures you a bit, and you can better see your eyes."

She had cut practically all of his hair off, and honestly...It wasn't too bad. His head even felt the slightest pinch lighter. And his bangs, without them, he didn't feel the need to swat at them when his head was down.

True, he wouldn't be rocking it Jiraiya-style anytime soon...But perhaps this really was for the better.

"Thank you, Ino," he said, standing up. "I do appreciate this."

Ino shrugged, giving an almost smug look. "You better, if they found out I went to your hotel and didn't turn you in...I mean I could get in big trouble, and you, you out here with that psycho on the loose..."

"Again, I'm really grateful," he said. "And like this, I'll be safe. Ain't nobody going to find me unless I want them to. I promise you that."

"Good. And you better keep your hair that way or I'll dye it black when you're asleep," she teased, turning to leave.

Before she closed the door, she did turn her head, so she could look at him, an expression of concern on her face. "Stay safe. Alright? Your squad can't afford another tragedy on their hands."

_-xxxxx-_

His first stop was to Nagato's place. AKA (and formerly) Pain.

A few years ago, he had stood as the head of the criminal Akatsuki organization, its intention to cripple the Purge and monopolize on the fear to force the residence of Konoha into submission. But that, Naruto thought, ringing the doorbell, was another matter and story altogether and anymore no longer relevant, not to the current Nagato. Released early. Reformed.

It had taken a very close heart to heart, the victimizer was victim himself, and his foundation and mask as Pain shattered, leaving behind the true him, a broken man.

Naruto rung the doorbell, the backpack on his back heavy on his shoulder. It was stuffed to the brim with some personal items and secondhand clothes. Everything he needed until he could go back home. Hopefully, because if this got drug out he would have to find someone to crash with and he didn't want to put that burden on anyone.

After another ring, a woman answered the door. Konan. She still looked the same, although had since taken the lip piercing out. She really was a beautiful woman, fair shoulder-length hair, always topped by an origami flower, a curvy figure. Strange eyes, made more prominent by light blue eyeshadow.

She took the sight of him at her doorstep with a raised eyebrow and genuinely surprised look on her face.

"Um, hi, Konan," Naruto said, a little sheepishly. "I, um, need to talk to Nagato."

The woman smiled. "We figured as much, after seeing the news. Come." She welcomed him in, raising her arm. "He is in the living room."

The house was rather huge and empty. Its regal decor spoke nothing of either of the past Akatsuki's dirty history. But rather of a life improved much from that of their childhood together.

Inside the living room, Nagato was in an electronic wheelchair by the couch, his legs long ago crippled. When he had acted as Pain, he'd used various people as his walking puppets, people who practically had no life, but were filled with his dogma instead. They had not been fun taking down, all while trying to get to the root of Pain, the head, not knowing that the entire time, he was just a crippled man. One with dangerous and unkillable ideas and perspective. Which he had tried so hard to fill Naruto with during their fights and talks at the time.

"Hey, I really don't mean to disturb you guys," Naruto began.

Konan interrupted, motioning him towards a couch which she sat on. "You could never, we are indebted to you."

He was glad and couldn't help smile a little. "Really, I'm being serious. I'm not here on official business or anything like that. But I do...I do need to ask you about the Akatsuki."

Nagato frowned. "They are active as an organization again?"

He knew very well that even after he had disbanded, numerous ones still continued their lifestyle of crime. But the idea of them joining as a team again bothered him. It made the members even more dangerous. Which was why he had picked them out before and brought them together.

"I don't know," Naruto said. "But if you've watched the news, then you know something big has happened. A crime that I don't think a single person could have done alone. And if my memory is right, I remember hearing how most of the evidence was destroyed by a set of bombs...These guys, it's serious and the only group I can think of that can pull it off, and have a motive to, would be them."

"Naruto," the man replied grimly. "I know hardly anything about my organization and its members nowadays. I lost touch as I assumed they all did with each other after everything that happened."

Naruto looked down sadly. "So there's no chance it's any of them."

If not them, he had no clue who else. Who else would have the resources and gall...And he would have nothing to go off without another tip. Oh, how desperately he needed a solid tip to get a good foothold in this case. Temari would only know the bare minimum and until he saw her again, he needed to move on his own.

Nagato roused his attention again by speaking up. "No," he said. "That is highly likely."

Oh? This was suddenly promising again.

Nagato continued. "But they would not stay together or even in the same room without a leader."

"Right."

Nagato nodded. "I believe Kisame works at a pier nearby. He is your best bet. Of all my members, excluding Itachi, he was the most redeemable one. The others...They were always the most human people...Ruled by their base instincts, the greed, violence, and masochism. Destruction..."

Pain.

Nagato looked at him, his form so weakened by his past life. His cheekbones prominent, as where most of his bones under his pale stretched skin. His eyes, grim. "If they are together, you must break them apart. This city cannot afford them as a single unit again. It would not survive this time, especially under a new leader. I did what I did with good intentions. And look at the damaged it caused. This new leader? Find them, if such a person exists now, and do what you have to do...Naruto."

_-xxxxx-_

Hinata laughed when she saw him at the Raijin, leaning against the brick wall outside, backpack slung over his shoulder, looking like some college student. She almost didn't recognize him with the knit beanie and hoodie. She still spotted him though by that mischievous grin of his.

"What are doing you here?" she cried, running up to him. "I mean, goodness, it's not safe!"

Like him, she was dressed casually but still had her badge attached to her hip.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Look, a promise is a promise. I told you I would help you out on your case today and I meant it."

"How'd you get here?" she asked, an eyebrow twerking downward. The club was a moderate distance from the center of their city where he lived and the Purge Headquarters resided. Where his car was still parked, since yesterday.

"Taxi. And what money I had suddenly went, poof." She laughed as he motioned with his hands the "poof".

And he was not kidding. It, the stay at the hotel, the two disposable phones, some food and more clothes had finished up his stash. He would have to figure out where to stay tonight later. For now...Raiden.

A club known for loud music, and, well, rap battles.

"So," he began as they entered the club. The music inside was booming and the room was filled with dark faces.

"Oh geez, we're really, really going to stick out here."

Gasping, Hinata elbowed him. "Shhhh—" Her attempt to shush him ended up in laughter but she contained herself to splutter out "You can't just say that!"

"Why not?" he retorted. "It's true."

"Naruto..."

The Raiden resided in the Lightning District and there, light skin color was the minority. It was just the way it was. He did though, catch another light-skinned person in the vicinity, a woman with short blonde hair and rather big breasts. She was standing with a group that consisted of a few assumably Kumo residents, a man with a sucker hanging out of his mouth like a toothpick or something, and a boisterous woman with wild red hair. She wore a green dress with a white vest. Similar in style to the Vic.

"That's her. Karui," Hinata whispered, barely audible in the booming music. She was nearly talking into his ear and noticing, she scooted back slightly. "She was one of his students."

"Of what?" he whispered back.

She shrugged and took his hand. "Come on."

The volume of the music seemed to increase. Why'd they have to be standing so near a speaker...

"I'm officer Hyuuga," Hinata said, nearly shouting to the group when they noticed her coming toward their direction.

They acknowledge her with an "Oh" and "Ah, there she is."

Naruto stayed behind her, observing quietly.

"So you the officer looking into who offed the B, huh?" the main woman said. She looked over Hinata's shoulder, looking Naruto over. "Who's that?"

Why did she seem so predatory?

"He's...an associate as well. Off-duty currently, he's from another squad but agreed to assist me today. He also was the one who discovered the crime scene."

"Ah. Well, I already told you everything I know about it," Karui said dismissively. She no doubt had wanted Hinata to come to her next only with the killer's head on a platter and was disappointed she was here without it. Bad news.

"I know," Hinata said. "But I think I discovered a new angle and would like your thoughts."

"Yeah?"

"He wrestled, correct?" She pulled out a tablet from her purse to show the woman a map on it, zoomed up to a street. "His last match was here, a short while ago. Yes?"

The man beside the woman, with the dyed white hair, laughed. "Yeah, he did. He was our own..."

The girl interrupted, angrily. "It was one of  _them_ , wasn't it!?"

"I-I don't know," Hinata said, beginning to stutter.

"It had to be, not many could take him down! You guys even find the body, yet?" The latter question had been spoken more as a demand and indignity at their apparent failure.

Hinata nervously tucked a clump of her bangs behind an ear. "We're trying, but—"

"Trying! It's been  _days_!"

"We're doing our best," Naruto said, coming between them.

_Calm the frik down, woman._

The woman's lips curled into a smirk. "You wanna go,  _blondie_?"

Man, was she wired tightly.

"No, I do not..." He paused. Then shrugged. "You know what, sure. I'm off duty, it's consented, and I've had a bad past couple of days, so let's work that out."

He wasn't kidding. And neither was she.

She smiled, tilting her head to a door. "Outside, back alleyway."

"Fine by me."

"Naruto!" Hinata cried, straight up appalled. No doubt wondering what he was doing encouraging a fight.

"Come on, Hinata, it's alright. We're grown-ups."

She was too abashed to even debate that. Still, she was unable to not follow them out, her concern just palpable. They all, Naruto and her, Karui and her gang, Darui, and the blonde Samui trekked through a side exit to what was an empty back lot. Bits of litter dotted the ground. There was a big dumpster and because of the layout, the sinking sun was hidden behind a wall, making it feel later in the evening than it really was.

"You really up for this?" he asked, removing his hoodie but not his shirt. She nodded, pushing up her sleeves. "Believe me, I am. The question is are you?"

He hummed. "As long as you understand that this is a simple and friendly fight and only that."

"Sure, whatever, now shut up and come at me."

Her fist was already swinging, her body pushing forward. She was fast. And clearly trained in some form of fighting. He had fought with people who thought they could fight but all they were really doing was just swinging their fists and kicking around like a flopping fish. No method whatsoever.

He laughed, ducking. She was very direct. Hm. He swung his feet, attempting to trip her but she leaped out of the way. Then bounced back, slamming a left fist, her right feinting, right into his face. He crashed back, his head pounding, and skidded across the pavement on his back, his shirt pushed upward by the impact and motion, just enough to expose his lower sternum. Before he could pull his shirt down, he caught Karui's amber eyes staring at his stomach, eyes fixed on the markings, her head tilted slightly.

"Naruto!"

He bounced back to his feet, fist raised and wiped the blood from his nose with the other. " _Please_ , lady."

He focused more on studying how she moves as the spar continued. She dealt heavy attacks, with a lot of force, using her body weight to help give her an edge. If she was his student in any way, Naruto didn't have any doubt that it was fighting that Killer B had taught her.

Which made sense, considering how upset she was now.

Her focus drifted back to the fight and she smiled confidently. "You really want more? You have yet to  _even_  hit me, pussy."

He laughed. "I usually don't hit girls, but I do make exceptions, and you're right, I oughta be giving you a  _fair_  fight, you deserve that."

He switched up his tactics, going for an arsenal that focused on fast moves and prioritized evasiveness. And somehow, he was actually faster than her, ducking from her heavy punches and maneuvers. Of course, her anger was not helping her thinking. And he took advantage of that now, giving his own feint before he barreled at her, knocking her to the ground this time.

"How's this, huh!?"

She hissed, landing on her back, him over her.

And for one split second, that angry exterior gave a look that was on the verge of crying. Not because she had been grounded, no, it was grief. Grief over a loss. Her teacher. He knew  _that_ look.

So when she sent her knee sailing upward, he didn't block this time. Merely grit his teeth and fell back to his rear as she got back to her feet and started to assail him with angry fists. He managed to block some with his raised arms but he made it clear he wasn't going to be on the offense anymore and he was starting to get beat up for it in her vent.

"Ah," she said, all trace of that sadness buried as her fists just now stopped wailing on him. "You wanna call it quits yet?"

"Only because you'd get hurt," was his snarky reply, but before he could say more, his eyes drifted to the dumpster. There was a big dent on it. Not a small one, no, like a body had slammed into it. Hard.

His voices drifted off, his eyes fixed on it. Noticing, Karui turned to see what had absorbed his attention.

"What?" she said.

Catching on as well, Hinata's brow drew down. "Naruto..."

He was crawling forward, ducking his head to examine underneath the dumpster. Then made a noise of surprise when he caught sight of something under that. Something more than mere litter. He reached under and pulled it out. A small notepad.

"Look," he said. "Someone left this..."

Karui and the rest of her gang's eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Wait a minute," Darui exclaimed, pushing forward. "That's..."

"It looks like B's!" Karui finished, closing the distance between her and Naruto. She bent down, hovering over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages.

The pages were lined and filled nearly to the brim with sporadic writings. Phrases, even additional doodles. Lists of words. All of it written in almost every direction. He flipped through to the last entry, glancing to Karui.

"This B's handwriting?"

She nodded, her eyes getting that look again...The softer one.

Naruto glanced back down to the book and read a promising bit. "'Think they control me, don't own me, they're the fools, I won't be one of their...tools.'" He paused. "Wow, that sounds...kinda forced, if you ask me."

Karui scoffed. Her fist balling up. "And what would you know about rap, huh, blondie?"

"Um, I made pop and shop rhyme earlier...And I have a name, you know," he said. "It's Naruto."

"Whatever. B at least—"

Here Marui cut in. "Look, we all knew he wasn't the best, but that's why we all loved him. The guy was hilarious."

Karui rolled her eyes. "Guys! That's not what matters, just look at what that says again. B was always jotting down ideas for his songs based on his surroundings. This passage...He mentions tools, and "them" not owning him."

Now Hinata spoke, a rather pleasant gasp. " _This_! This could help me build a case against the people who wanted that match fixed!"

Karui breathed shakily, smiling genuinely. "Yes. Please!"

Hinata nodded, practically beaming. "We'll find him and the people responsible. And if it's alright with you..." She grabbed the book from Naruto. "I'll be taking this. But I promise, when this case if over, I'll return this personally."

"I appreciate that..." She glanced to Naruto, eyelids skeptically narrowed but then chuckled. "You too, man. This was fun."

Naruto laughed.  _Yeah...fun..._

* * *

"You let her win, didn't you?" Hinata asked once they were in her car, heading back to their side of town.

Naruto sighed, still holding a tissue to his bloody nose. "Less than a week ago, I found her teacher's blood, enough that his death is practically guaranteed. She's angry, as she has every right to be, but soon that anger is going to shift fully into sadness. Sadness that isn't ever going to truly go away. So yes, I let her win."

She pulled over, into a parking lot of a gas station, assumably for some ice. But she didn't get out of the car yet.

"That was really nice. I was going to berate you, honestly, about starting that up but then..."

Their faces were inches apart, their eyes immersed in the others.

"I can't believe you actually came. You don't even know how much that means."

He lowered the tissue, his nose bloodless now. His lips parted slightly as they gazed at each other, truly, for the first time in a long time.

There was no debate about his next move. He inched closer, closing the distance between them.

"We both know what it feels like," he whispered, breath warm against her neck. And then he was wrapping his arm around it, pulling his lips to it, kissing slowly. She closed her eyes, her body relaxing with a soft moan.

* * *

_Vibrating. Pounding. The noise._

" _Here," he was saying, "let me show you how to do it."_

" _Do what? Get information. It's called interrogation, Naruto."_

_They were young, Squad Seven. Naruto was rolling his eyes at his stoic friend._

" _Not everything needs to be so dark and gloomy, buzzkill. Here, let's look at the facts. It's a dude, therefore he's vulnerable."_

" _Excuse me?"_

" _To girls, silly. Stick one in front of him and he is yours and his lips are loose. With information I mean, it's all how you spin him."_

_Sasuke and Sakura were both struck silent. Sai laughed. "You mean you retrieve information with sex appeal?"_

_Naruto nodded. "I call it my Harem Tactic. Works on girls too..."_

_Sakura grimaced. "I'm going to be sick."_

" _Exhibit A, see that girl over there, waiting for an order, I'll get her number. Sai, you can keep it."_

" _Oh yay," he said, puzzled. "Why would I want her number?"_

_Naruto trekked up to the girl and leaned on the counter. They watched him in awe, as he leaned close to her, his voice low and eyes bright. Seconds later she was giggling nervously, her face red and writing something down._

_He came back triumphantly, holding the paper up. "See? Give me five minutes with anyone, if it's worth it, and whatever they know is mine to find out."_

" _Are you sure you're not secretly a girl?" Sakura asked. Naruto sighed. "Really? I told you already, it's my Harem Tactic. It works when breaking people's fingers,_ Sasuke _, isn't always the solution."_

* * *

It was the driving back to their side of town that he suddenly called for her to park at a pier.

"Why?" she asked, slowing down.

"I just need to check something."

She cast a suspicious look at him.

"Sights," he spat fast. "I swear...Just...Come on, the sun's setting, waters are on fire with it."

She bit her lip, blushing. "The date continues?"

He nodded. Then cast his eyes down, his expression sober.

She would never do this otherwise. Yes, he cared about her, but he just wasn't...

They walked along the docks, ignoring the bustle. Workers unloading boats of crates, others nets of fish.

"Naruto," she said slowly. "You did not bring me here for a date."

As if to confirm her suspicions a certain familiar man came into view, carrying a crate. Instinctively, she tensed and he knew now that she was armed and it was in her bag.

He sighed. "Not exactly. No."

She stopped short. Looking down. Debating. Then turned away. "I'll be waiting in the car when you're done."

He wanted to grab her, talk this out but...

"Fine," he settled. "Shouldn't be long."

She looked as if she wanted to say more. But she didn't. Just walked off, her head down.

He was frozen there for a moment, in the wave of people in workers and boats and boxes. Silently observing for a moment, the man Nagato himself had said was most sane of the batch. How ironic. The man who took after a shark, the most human one.

He was carrying more boxes but stopped for a short break when a woman approached him. She had light brown hair that hung at the sides of her face, parted in the middle. They talked briefly, she dropped a bag off, assumably a late lunch, before giving him a peck on the cheek and running off. Naruto's eyelids were frozen wide as she ran past him.

Did he just witness that?

"Well, look who we have here," a voice said, breaking him out of his shock. Naruto glanced up as Kisame approached him and he smiled.

"So you got yourself a woman now, huh? She know you're a psycho?" Naruto couldn't help it. He really couldn't.

Kisame chuckled, the sound low in his throat.

"And does yours know the same of you?"

So he had seen him and Hinata on the dock together.

"Hey now," he chided. "I'm not the one who has a record."

"Shouldn't you?"

Naruto glared and the man's smile widened, revealing his sharp teeth. "Truth hurts, doesn't it."

"Truth? That's a warped view of it," he retorted.

"Warped? Sounds like you're in denial. Your head's sure gotten big ever since the Akatsuki split, kid."

A chill ran down his spine from how Kisame drew out the "kid" and he fought back a visible grimace.

"I'm not here on duty, Kisame. I need to know if you know anything about the Uchiha estate and why someone would attack it."

"Oh?"

Naruto waited, his arms crossed.

"Not going to jump down my throat, accusing me right off the bat? I'm surprised, Naruto."

He shrugged. "I've grown since last we fought. Although..."

He uncrossed his arms, and glanced to Kisame calculatingly, one eyebrow higher than the other. " _Should_  I expect you?"

The man hooted with laughter. "You tell me,  _officer_."

They stared each other down for a little longer before Kisame shrugged. "I have no personal vendetta of any kind against the Uchiha, and to my knowledge, none of us do really. Even when we were active, it wasn't that far back." His voice dropped low, so low Naruto struggled to hear. "You're looking for, I expect, someone from the Purge itself."

He gasped. "How dare you insinuate—"

"What? That the organization that took over the Uchiha's jobs would later be involved in their demise? Yeah, I am."

Naruto shook his head, his teeth grinding together. "How  _dare_  you."

Kisame just chuckled, shaking his head, and the volume of his voice rose back to normal. "Listen, I would love to swap banter with you all day but I have a job to get to. Hard manual labor. You should try it sometime."

Naruto rolled his eyes and stormed off. Even if he did believe Kisame's crazy notion, it still wasn't possible. His prints...Not even the Purge itself had his entire palm on file. And the Purge was incorruptible to top it. No. Someone...Someone was responsible and they were close to the Purge. Too close for comfort.

He wanted to wrack his brain. He should have noticed someone getting his prints. But how? He, to be blunt, didn't wander around much. He was either at work or home or out to eat. The Purge, its people, they were his world.

Ugh, he'd figure that out later. Even if Kisame was a dead end, the prints still weren't the only clue to the case and he would get to it when it was time. For now...He needed access.

He gave pause. Was he terrible?

_-xxxxx-_

He found her sitting on the side of the pier, legs held over the edge so her toes were touching the soft laps of water. Seeing her, he got straight to it, plopping beside her. "I've long left things hanging, and I admit, that, but...I can't...I can't sort this out until all this, this mess is over...And I can't do that without you. I need help. Inside help."

Hinata shook her head.

"You used me."

He glanced down, swallowing dryly. "It's not like that...completely. I mean, I did want to help you today...I just wanted help in return, y'know?"

She sighed, fingers coming up to her forehead, eyes closing. Her lashes cast shadows on her cheeks.

"Naruto... Don't play innocent, like I owe you for helping out on a case. This...this is your plan." She felt sick.

"I know, it seems bad, but I need this. I need help, this case, it's so big."

"Exactly. And you expect me to tell you things, tell you things that will help you get further involved? Things that would cause you to probably walk into their hands?"

"Hinata..." He placed a hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry. But this is important to me, I can't sit back and do nothing. My reputation has to be saved, I mean if this goes on for too long... I'd never be able to come back. I can't live that way. The Purge is my world, you guys, everyone...You're my family. And now...everything is in jeopardy. I will not give that up, no matter what happens."

"But your life, Naruto, to me... I don't want to be the one responsible for anything happening, no, I can't bear the thought...I just want you back. You mean...I told you how I felt, a long time ago. And you..."

"I know that, but I'm not ready for...that yet." He struggled for words, his eyes trapped by hers. They were so peculiarly pale and now cast in shadow by the overhead light. "I've never...had that before. Not in any substantial real way. And I...I'm just not ready, at least not while this is going on too. So I just wanna sort this out now...And we'll work  _that_  out after...Because I do...I do...care about you too."

She bit her lip, her eyes still closed, her brow furrowing. "Naruto, I—"

He pushed closer to her, consuming her lips.

She was rigid for a moment, and slowly, ever so slowly, she surrendered.

He withdrew a deep breath but it was not relief he felt.

_-xxxxx-_

The list he gave her wasn't very extensive. Mostly for information kept at Purge. Whatever they had on the various members of the Akatsuki, the autopsy report, the crime scene details, information for it both before and after explosions. Any information on the Uchiha—like why they would be targeted. The kind of knife used. Anything on his prints.

Before he had disappeared who knows where into the night, he had given her an email to contact with such information when she got it. A random and no doubt recently conjured account.

She looked over the list once more, feeling sick and trapped. Help him, and risk her job and his life. Or don't. And risk...Whatever this was.

"I'm such a fool," she whispered. To no one.

_-xxxxx-_

He hadn't talked for the duration of that day, neither had he really eaten anything. He did slink into the kitchen and cook some rice, midday, but that was it and most of it had remained unfinished after he had only consumed a few bites.

Sakura sat down on the couch beside him. Tentatively, she placed a hand on his lap.

"Sasuke...Do you want to talk about it or go somewhere?"

He exhaled slowly, his eyes remaining fixed in the space before him. "Sakura, I appreciate the gesture but...no."

She nodded. "All right. But if you do change your mind, please tell me. I'm here for that, alright?"

He shrugged then suddenly tensed up as something knocked on her door, a kind of insistent knocking but not too loud. He practically leaped off the couch and ran for the door, but keeping his footfalls as quiet as humanly possible. Stealthily. His hand reached for his hip but settled for turning into a fist since his firearm was gone. Stance ready, he looked to Sakura whose eyelids had frozen apart. Both in fear and awe at his speed.

He nodded to her. That's right. No one was supposed to know he was here right now.

"Um," she said, then projecting her voice, said louder "Who is it?"

"Just me. You're good."

Kakashi. Both of them relaxed and Sasuke unlocked the door.

Kakashi was outside it, holding a grocery bag that seemed to be filled with clothes. Entering the living room, he tossed it to the Uchiha.

"So we checked out your apartment."

He gave the bag a brief look before dropping it down."And you had to use my key to even get in."

"I had to use the key."

Any other day Sasuke would have smirked.

Kakashi sighed. "You were right. You've made his place into a fortress. The only way in without a key would have been to tear the door or wall down, and obviously, such actions would have roused attention and left behind their marks."

"Captain," Sakura said, approaching the small group. "Any news?"

Kakashi nodded. "There was nothing at that apartment. There was, though, another piece of evidence, that points at one other person. It has yet to disprove Naruto but it's something and even as I speak, a squad is going after the other one. Naruto on the other hand...Have you seen or heard anything from him at all?"

Sakura shook her head. "He's really in hiding, isn't he?"

"Looks that way. He thought he was cheeky when he rented a hotel room under a false name but, no, he really wasn't. He left though before I could go there and talk to him and I can only hope no one besides me recognized the alias." He turned his head toward Sasuke now. "Sasuke, would you be able to answer some questions about the Uchiha for me?"

There was a long pause, Sakura glanced around nervously, wanting to shut Kakashi up now. It was too soon. Way too soon!

But at the same time, his words from earlier...He knew something. Why the Uchiha were targeted at the very least...

After a moment of pondering his response, Sasuke had his answer. "Not tonight, Kakashi."

Kakashi seemed as if he wanted to protest for a moment but finally settled on nodding. "Understandable, well, I better join the hunt. In the meanwhile, stay put."

_-xxxxx-_

He sat on the street curb, his money sources completely depleted. Hinata was mad at him, as she had every right to be and he had nothing to show for it either. His money was gone, he was none the wiser. He felt utterly terrible about earlier still. And he had nowhere to go. No, false. There was one place: A place he had not been to since he was a child.

It was a long walk, but one he was grateful for, as it helped clear his head, the air, the background sounds and people. The crisp blades of grass against the soles of his shoes as the sun continued to sink.

When the old wooden shack of a house came into view, he smiled. It was still here, after all these years, the abandoned termite's nest.

It sat by itself. A little ways off from a neighboring neighborhood. An old house, long abandoned and probably better off torn down. It was so worn down and old it wasn't worth fixing up and probably just as not worth the work of tearing down. Some said the owner had gone missing. Or had been killed. It was an enigma and one most people had no desire to dig around.

But this house was special and he loved it. His own club, back when he was a kid. And for a time, his home. He hadn't been back since...

Smiling ruefully at the thought, Naruto entered in through a broken window and threw his backpack on in.

_He was twelve. Nothing on him but the clothes on his back and his school backpack. He crept into the old house nervously, almost scared but the idea of...the other house, those people, they were so much worse than a lone house filled with empty and rooms and lonely hallways._

_So he snuck in and dropped his bag._

" _Home sweet home," he said, trying to make the best of the situation. He finally had his own home, right? He smiled weakly, his head pounding, his body sore. The smile dropped as he did, to the dusty wooden floorboards. He curled up, grabbing his head between his palms._

Freaking monsters.

_So he lived there. And he fended for himself for that time. Doing yard work for money and food. Going to school, although he was always running late and getting scolded by Iruka for it. And looks, they did not end as the color of bruises began to show, darkening to a deep purple before fading slowly to brown then disappearing for good._

_And time passed. And soon, the house became his turf. Every local knew it._

_But one day, someone invaded._

_He jolted up, the voices of the invaders drifting to his room._

_Someone was in_ his  _house and they didn't sound good._

_He waited outside the door, his fists raised, his body tensed._

_-xxxxx-_

He sat on a stool and began tying his hair back, golden strands, sans a particular one... He grabbed the long and fair strands in one collective hold, and twisted a band around it, high on his head. Finished, he leaned forward now, taking a deep breath.

"Let's try this again," he muttered lowly. Behind him, a caged bird squawked.

"Hm." And he began, taking hold of mushy clay, kneading it, fingers digging into the surface as his palms pushed down. It felt different. The sensations, particularly with his pushing. But that did not matter when his dedication to his arts was more. So he began shaping the ball of mush, his head tilting. Yes, he knew it now, crafted it, fingers pressing and smoothing.

It was a bird.

The clay of his creation was grey but once it was fired in the kiln it would be white.

Once done shaping to what he felt was simplistic perfect, he sat there for awhile, admiring his handiwork.

What was it about birds that took hold of his hands? Was it their promise of freedom? He was down for that.

But his satisfaction for his creation was only momentary as he picked up the bird and thrust it at the wall. It splatted against the surface and slid down, deformed past recovery.

He sighed. "Boom..."

"Boom is right."

He jumped up at the sound of the voice before he was shoved into his table from behind. They were on his back before he could even turn, holding him facedown.

He groaned.

"You," their voice hissed. "You got  _sloppy_."

"Yeah?"

"You left behind evidence."

"Did I now?"

He was rewarded with a kick to his shin. He groaned. Then laughed.

The assailant wasn't amused. "You leave. Now. Don't come back here, and don't get sloppy again if you know what's good for you. This is your  _only_ warning."

And like that, the intruder was gone.

Deidara sat up, rubbing his shin and uttered a few curses under his breath before giving into a hearty sigh.

"Lovely. Just Lovely."

He glanced to his pet and sighed again.

"Looks like I got to go, hn. But."

The pads of his fingers moved softly across the cage, tracing across the thin bars of steel. The feathered creature, a ring-necked dove. Around its neck a black half-circle ran, encompassing just the back of its neck as if at some point during its evolution its collar had broken and all it wore now were the remnants.

Silently, Deidara lifted the door to its freedom.

"Have fun out there for me," he muttered.

Minutes later, there was an insistent knocking on his door, then a crash as it was broken into, Yamato at the front.

But the detective found the flat void of any human life.

A room that had bombs set off in it. Smaller, and recently. There was still smoke in the air and residue. The entire interior and its furniture and walls were black and crisp. To the back though, was some color, spray painted words that read:

_**Quis custodiet ipsos custodes** _

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

 **Be here tomorrow for the next part** **.**

**And if you liked this, be sure to follow.**

**And if you**   _ **really**_ **liked this, be sure to leave a review. Tell me the whys so I can keep it in mind while these are being posted.**

**If you hated this, leave a review anyway. I like to think I'm open-minded toward criticism.**


	7. The Fourth

**DATE POSTED: 7/10/17**

_Someone was in his_   _house and they didn't sound good. He waited outside the door, his fists raised, his body tensed._

* * *

**SEVEN DEVILS**

**The Fourth**

* * *

_The house remained without electricity, so it was always dark. Young Naruto tended to leave the windows on the back side of the house open because of this and read and did his homework in these rooms, under the dusty sills and their cobwebbed corners. He could have just kept the ragged sheets that were the curtains simply drawn apart for the light, but he needed the airflow as well, so the windows remained open until he decided it was bedtime._

_It was through one of these windows that the invaders had crept through, their demeanor adding sort of charge to the air. Their voices...one of them in particular. They sounded like they were close to his age, a little older, but their attitude, the way they snapped back at their accomplices..._

" _Don't think we should be in here..." a voice was saying. Even older, yet speaking in what sounded like fear._

" _Shut up," was what was snapped back by a smooth and irritated voice. The feared._

" _I-I'm just saying."_

" _I do what I want, you got a problem with it you can just..."_

_Naruto steeled himself, waiting, his breath frozen, his heart racing, beating as a stampede of horses as the sound of their footfalls became more audible, closer._

_Little did he know that someone so pivotal to his life was about to walk through that door._

Naruto sat on the floorboards, smiling at the memory, he could remember it so clearly, it was as if he could see the ghostly image of himself standing on the other side of that dividing wall, waiting.

Then he saw  _him_  for the first time. Naruto smiled at his apparition. A kid, like him, but one whose demeanor and appearance was literally the complete opposite. The first thing that always caught his attention was his wild red hair. No. It was his intense gaze, which stared harshly under a furrowed and hairless brow. And this aura, it radiated off of him back then...

Naruto shook his head. No, not down the rabbit hole of memories. No. Just no. So he readied for the night. He knew where he had left his supplies back then, some cans of food (now expired), clothes (which obviously wouldn't fit) and his real goal tonight: a blanket and pillow. The house was beginning to cool and by morning he would be sick if he didn't attempt to wrap up. So he made his way to an empty room that had served as his bedroom so many years ago and began feeling around in the pitch closet. His hand touched cobwebs as it moved blindly along the interior of the closet, searching for the fuzzy bed that was an old cartoon-themed blanket.

Feeling a bulk of plush fabric, he grabbed hold of it and shook the blanket like mad, freeing it from years of dust. It was only after shaking it for what felt like hours that he finally made it into a pallet with some blanket purposely left extended to wrap around himself.

Now sleep.

It came hard at first because Naruto couldn't stop thinking about the day's events, and Hinata, oh Hinata. He knew he would make it up. He'd do whatever it took. And he wanted to. But he couldn't now. There was this case, the massacre, the possible suspects...

Then his mind begin to drift to memories further. Maybe it was laying on the floorboards, breathing in years of dust. Maybe it was this house. The sad creaks and moans. Or being alone, but once the haze of thoughts and memories started, they took hold of his dreams as he drifted off.

_He was with his fosters, sitting on a chair, his backpack thrown to the ground at his feet. His feet did not touch the floor yet from his perch on the seat. The fosters were yelling like usual, in the living room. He was in the adjacent kitchen. Neither liked being in the same room as the other party and rarely did they acknowledge each other, but today he needed their signature for school. So he waited, swinging his feet back and forth slightly, waiting for the storm to ride out as he had so many times before._

_Iruka had taught the class about animals today. There was this mechanism..., oh what was it? Self-preservation. It was kind of a funny word. He rolled it around on his tongue a bit. It had taken him a tremendous effort to study and remember it. The paper in need of a signature was a simple permission form to watch a movie._

_Their voices were loud, harsh and even later when they had cooled down, when he tried to hand the paper to the male he was promptly ignored. He could not see his face. It was a blur. He did not care either. This did not bother him. It was the voice, the venom in it as it hissed. A poisonous snake. The man mumbled under his breath seemingly rummaging for something._

_This was not unnormal. But Naruto needed it signed, so he persisted. Wrong move. He should have just forged it and would thereafter because of the sudden crack of pain that was the man's hand across his face._

Naruto jolted awake, sitting up, and rubbed his face with both hands before just resting it on them. He hadn't dreamed of them in a very long time. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time. Just as he couldn't remember the details of their faces. They were dark silhouettes with cruel gleaming features. No. That wasn't right.

It was coming back. He had for so long put it away, as if he took hold of the memories and stuffed them in a box and tucked it way. They weren't relevant to him anymore. They stopped being so the moment Iruka had started noticing that something wasn't right at home and let him stay at his house while things got sorted out. It was a time of forms and pictures.

He closed his eyes and just breathed in the very early morning air, trying to clear his mind. He had been taught to meditate by Jiraiya and his old friend who had been ancient and short. Meditation had seemed like an odd thing to do at first but once he had embraced it, he found it helped him either clear his mind or reflect and rummage through his thoughts and memories so he could get back to his life.

So he meditated briefly now, clearing his thoughts. Must have been dawn proper by now.

Then a noise disturbed him. Not the average creaking noise as the house settled, or the buzzing of a fly. Footsteps. Human footsteps.

He tensed.

" _Don't think we should be in here..."_

" _Shut up."_

" _I-I'm just saying."_

" _I do what I want, you got a problem with it you can just..."_

_Naruto waited, then he saw the figures appear. A kid about his height but with this nasty attitude about him. There was just something very off-putting. And that red hair. Dark clothes. Pale skin and a...tattoo? On his forehead. A character, ink red as blood._

_Any other person would have been taken off guard at first. But Naruto was not, and thought to himself, So he has a tattoo too?_

_Naruto swallowed nervously as the intense kid and two others entered his view. They were older, the kids behind him. A boy with some paint on his face wearing dark clothes and a backpack that resembled a puppet. The other, a girl with blonde hair._

A woman with blonde hair stared at him for a moment, eyes wide in disbelief.

He stared back the same.

Then they both smiled and laughed, a little awkwardly at first.

"Wow," Temari said. "You almost scared me for a moment, what are you  _doing_ here, Naruto?"

Naruto shrugged, getting to his feet. Man, he must look like a bum right now. "I just felt like camping out for a night," he said. Then countered with a smirk, "What are  _you_ doing here?"

Now her smile faded. "I like to go on early walks."

 _In a house?_ It was like she could read his mind because they stood quietly for a moment before she gave an audible sigh. "I come here sometimes..." she said. "To just think. Helps me when I'm stuck at the job."

"Last I checked you were doing great. No one is as thorough as you."

When she was not keeping an uberly close eye on the Purge, she was digging into suspicious activity by politicians and company holders and all sorts of people who you didn't usually want to tick off. Doing so had actually helped the Purge more than once. And put her in danger countless times.

She smiled bitterly. "That's because I have the freedom to be. I sleuth around, investigate. I don't care about limits or people in higher places. And I'm good because of that. It's...I have nothing to lose."

_Nothing to lose..._

Naruto walked up to her slowly before wrapping his arms around her in a supportive hug. "In any case, it's good seeing you again," he said softly.

She squeezed him tight in return. "You too."

They parted after a moment and chuckled. Temari glanced around the room, eyes darting around quickly, and paused briefly at the sight of his pallet and backpack. "I heard you were framed but..." She glanced back to him, with an earnest expression of worry. "Please tell me you're not actually  _staying_  here."

He rubbed his head sheepishly. "I didn't want to burden everyone while this is going on."

She scoffed. " _Nonsense_ , Naruto. You aren't some child camping out for fun in the woods and I will not have it! Naruto Uzumaki I am abducting you and you will stay at my place!"

"Wait, what?"

She laughed. "I will not have you sleeping here like some squatting bum. You're coming with me, mister."

He laughed in return. "Temari, I can't. Someone is most likely after me and—"

"Start going the protection route and I will get personally offended. You know I know how to handle myself. Saying otherwise is an insult and I will not have it!"

She practically grabbed his shirt by the fistful. "I'm serious. You're gonna finish your sleep there and who knows, maybe we can help each other with the case."

Well, he couldn't argue there.

"Fine," he said. "But on one condition."

"Yeah, what?"

"You let me cook breakfast for you."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "I'm  _dying_  for noodles."

_-xxxx-_

_The boy with the tattoo glowered at him. "Who are you?" he demanded._

_Naruto squared his shoulders, smirking. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. You're going to remember that name. And this is_ my  _turf."_

" _You," the boy said, intense gaze promising violence, "go away. It's_ mine  _now."_

" _You better leave, kid," the older boy said._

" _If you know what's good for you," the girl concurred._

_The ring-leader came off as a self-privileged brat. One who people, even the older kids behind him, straight up feared. It would have been wise of Naruto to drop it and just let them rummage through the house and come back in when they left. It would have been the better path._

_But he was Naruto._

_He stood his ground, balling his fists at his hip and made the classic rebellious remark of "_ Make  _me."_

_The older kids visibly winced and silently groaned in irritation. The brat in the center seemed surprised as if no one had stood their ground to him before._

_Then the weird kid's lips turned upward. Was he trying to smile? Naruto smirked again in return._

_Then the boy punched him in the face._

_Naruto tripped back, mostly from the suddenness and force of the attack._

_Not engaging back would have been the right thing to do. Heck, he should have run. The tattooed kid had issues._

_But this was Naruto, so he hopped back to his feet and punched him back._

" _And here we go again," the blonde girl grumbled. "Don't say we didn't warn you, kid."_

_-xxxx-_

Naruto found himself at an apartment. By now he was wide awake so any attempt to go back to sleep was pointless and it would be breakfast time soon in any case. He sat on Temari's couch, notebook on his lap. His eyes wandered around the room as she used the bathroom.

She didn't have much decor. Just stashes of paper. Newspapers. Some were framed. One showcasing an Akatsuki member being arrested. Other papers were all thrown about. Papers of all sort. Files, reports, and scribbles on lined paper.

Then there was the wall. A bulletin board. The bulletin board was covered with thumbtacks, string, and sticky notes. Was it for a current report? It looked like a link chart.

"Oh boy," he mumbled, getting up to examine it closer. There were a few pictures, but mostly sticky notes with names, dates, and times scribbled out. Some had brief almost coded and certainly rushed summaries on them that he could not interpret the meaning of without knowing the context. For some of the others, pictures made it clear. She was keeping track of various Akatsuki members. Or rather trying to piece together a certain day from a few years back.

In the center was a photo. It was the only one not muddled by the spiderweb of various colored strings. It was a picture of her younger brother. His friend.

He could not help place a finger on it, inching closer. Taking the photograph in.  _He_  stood there, actually smiling. Temari was beside him, and on the other side, Naruto. Even Kankuro, the one who had taken the photograph had found a way to poke his head in at the edge. All were grinning as if it was the happiest time in their lives. No, it was.

He traced over the red character on Gaara's forehead. He had after a very long time finally found out what it meant.

_They were both hunched over, panting. Naruto's forehead was bleeding. When the kid in black turned his head back up, it revealed that he was bleeding too and the blood dripped down his forehead before trailing down the side of his nose like a crimson tear._

" _Ow."_

_Headbutts hurt._

_Naruto was never going to entertain the notion of trying it or any other attack involving the head again._

_He chuckled, straightening himself. The other boy seemed surprised. "Why don't you just get out?!"_

The sound of a door shutting brought his attention back.

"You..." he began, motioning to the board.

She came behind him. "I'm still trying to find evidence. The Purge...All these years later and they still can't put his prints on the blade."

Naruto looked down.

_He could see her, in the dark evening air, sitting on a bench. Her face collapsed into her hands. She had grown into a young adult by then. Not the older child who stood in fear beside her youngest brother. An officer tried approaching her. She rebuffed their futile attempt to comfort her._

_He remembered numbness setting in. Her expression, on the verge of crying but still trying to keep a strong front. But she was horrified. And he remembered hugging her, for a long time._

_The office..._

_Kakashi's voice. "I understand if you want to quit this organization after today."_

"Temari..." he began.

"No. I don't want to hear it. You know the Akatsuki is responsible."

After a moment, he nodded. "I do."

* * *

Temari ended up helping him out tremendously. They poured over their notes, comparing what they knew. She also confirmed Deidara was definitely involved. His hair had been found but by the time the Purge had arrived...

"Of course they didn't get there in time!"

Naruto frowned, setting down his glass of tea. They were both sitting on the couch, papers scattered all over the cushions between them. "Temari," he said. "Look, I understand your hate for the Purge. But I'm a  _part_  of it."

"I know that," she said. "But you're not like the rest of them."

"What does that mean?" he said, not meaning for it to come out sternly. He took pride in his job. You don't look at some of the kids' faces after freeing them from some trafficking creep and not take pride in what you did. He had seen the darkness in people's hearts from the beginning, since he was a child. He had never been sheltered as other kids, to the dark ego of adults. And now he was in a position to do something about it.

He could not imagine  _not_ doing something about it ever again.

"To them, that day...it was just another case...To  _him_..."

He knew now she was referring to Kakashi by her tone alone.

"He messed up. But what is that to him really when Deidara had been apprehended? That alone was  _good enough_  for  _him_."

_It was chaos. Hours ago the mayor of Suna had been taken hostage by a joint effort between Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. Kankuro had fallen victim to poison by one of the latter's members, a puppeteer by the name of Sasori. His father they had ended up killing, with no need of him anymore. Temari had escaped and was desperately counting on them, on Naruto, to get her brother back, his friend..._

_Naruto stood over a body..._

His.

_Kakashi froze behind him, seeing what had seized hold of Naruto, and uttered a curse._

"Temari, it's not like that," he said dryly. "You can't take...You can't take what happened out on him, especially after all this time."

"Why not!? Not everything has been resolved yet and it's okay for him to just move on to the next case!" She was upset now. "How is that fair? How is that fair at all!"

It wasn't fair. Fair that they didn't get there in time as they would for others soon after. As they had for her. But not him. Or their other family members.

"Look, I hate it, I hate Deidara—I swear I could just take a bat to him, so hard, but I don't want those feelings of rage to consume me. They aren't what he...Gaara wouldn't want that."

He hated himself for using Gaara like that. But it was true and she knew it.

"I haven't let go," Naruto said quietly, "but I haven't...I haven't taken my hurt out on Kakashi. That would have been too easy, but what happened, it wasn't his fault. Just like now, what happened to the Uchiha...It wasn't me. So he let me go, even against his job. He could get fired, or worse really..."

She didn't speak, just kept her head down, a sour and hurt expression on her face.

Finally:

"I still can't forgive him."

_-xxxx-_

They were in the Kakashi's office. Him and Yamato, discussing the case.

"Someone tipped him," Yamato said. He was talking about Deidara and his sudden departure.

Kakashi nodded. "I don't doubt it. Besides that one stray strand of hair, no other evidence of him was left. He had very intentionally been careful not to leave evidence from himself. But he couldn't have known about the hair."

Yamato leaned forward. They were seated at his desk, across from the other. He spoke quietly. "He had just left. There was still ice in a cup of tea that was in a room furthest from the bomb."

"Right."

The question that neither of them asked out loud but both were thinking was who and how. Who was it? And how did they know?

There was only one reasonable answer to the how: Someone, close to the Purge, was watching them closely.

It was an unsettling revelation.

But perhaps one Kakashi should have realized sooner...

_There was always an eye watching you. That was part of the job. Criticisms, applaud. Someone was always watching you, or depending on you._

_But last night, it was the former. A lone figure, in the dark. Outside a gas station. A chill of the deepest kind ran down his spine. He paid for his gas and left, his hand hovering over his holster but casually. Yamato was in the car still. Didn't notice the silhouette watching him just outside of the light beam casts by the station's canopy._

_He was about to ignore them but something about them, their hidden eyes, was pulling him like a magnet. Like a siren's call. He walked towards their direction, but remained under the light of the station, speaking out. He wasn't afraid of them. No, it was caution._

" _Something I can help you with?"_

_For all he knew they could be in trouble and just afraid to approach him._

_Yamato suddenly shouted out to him, "Kakashi, you going to fill her up or do you want me to?"_

_Kakashi' head had turned at the sound of his voice. When he brought his attention back to the silhouette, it was gone._

_The spot they had been standing in glistened with dark liquid. A distorted reflection._

" _Who were you talking to?" Yamato had asked when he got back in the car._

" _No one..."_

Kakashi suddenly turned to his computer screen. "'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.'"

"Huh?" Yamato said.

"Deidara had painted that on his wall. Then earlier, some squad members found it scribbled in a notebook again."

"Yeah, and?"

"You don't use Latin unless you want to sound really important."

"Or pretentious," Yamato countered. "Again,  _and_?"

Kakashi swiveled the screen which had a search engine pulled up so Yamato could see.

"It bears some relevance, I think, to us."

Translated, one interpretation of a many, it read:

' _Who will guard the guardians?'_

* * *

It was after this conversation that Kakashi and he parted ways and he again tried contacting Sasuke. He was in the privacy of the breakroom. No one else was in and he quickly dialed Sakura's number.

Everyone else was either helping search the estate, Deidara's room, on another case like Squad Eight, or off duty. He felt safe.

"Sakura."

There was a yawn on the other end. She must have been napping.

" _Yeah, Cap?"_

"We've begun digging through the estate again. It's cooled down. But I still need to ask Sasuke questions regarding his father and mother's relationship."

There had to be a reason Mikoto had been found by herself. What husband would have left her to fend for herself? They had been married to each other for over two decades. No previous marriages. No apparent trouble with their marriage. No. Something...Something had caused them to go in opposite directions that night. Or else he hadn't been in bed that night. And Kakashi needed to know why. If anyone knew, it would be his distant son.

There was a sad sigh on the end.

" _I don't think he's ready, Cap. He's...He's got this calm facade but he isn't doing anything. He's holding it in..."_

"I know, Sakura."

Sasuke's stoic reaction could only be expected. He had always been like that. But that didn't mean he didn't feel anything. No, it just showed how petty he was in his pride.

"But I need to know why his father was not near his wife. I need to know what is at the center of their estate, in the old Police Force building."

It was an assumption by this point, but one he felt confident with. Just a hunch and his hunches were usually on point.

" _Cap, he's not ready to talk about that when he's not even vented. I'll try to bring it up but give me time."_

 _Time is a luxury we really don't have,_ he thought grimly.

"All right. Take care."

He hung up.

_-xxxx-_

Night had come fast, and already. Naruto couldn't believe it. He stared outside the window of Temari's apartment, his eyes wide and reflecting the stars above.

Beautiful. Made everything fade away.

"Okay," Temari's voice said. "Let's see what you got."

He turned around, grinning.

Temari had entered the kitchen, wearing nothing but a pair of red boyshorts and a long black tank top that mostly covered them. Her "pajamas". She plopped down in her kitchen chair and began fanning herself with a folded up newspaper.

"Go ahead," she said playfully haughtily. "Show me."

Beaming with pride he pulled the lid from the pot on her table, revealing steaming noodles floating in seasoned water.

"Mmmm," she hummed, sniffing.

"My own recipe."

She made a bowl quickly, setting her handmade fan down beside her and took the first bite.

"Wow," she said, swallowing the bite down. "You can  _actually_  cook."

He laughed in response. "What kind of response is that? It doesn't take long to figure out that real noodles are just as easy as instant ramen. You just put water in a pan and wait for it to boil then cook the noodles. See? Any person can cook!"

"Can you cook anything else?" she asked. A little smugly, with a knowing smile.

He rolled his eyes. "Look. I'm a noodle fanatic. Leave me alone, woman."

She laughed. "At least it's something. My brothers would burn toast if they tried."

Naruto started to chuckle but found it quickly fading and the room filled with an awkward silence.

"That's what happens," she said, "when you had servants and maids and cooks."

She had not said that in a positive manner. At all. It went silent. Nothing but the occasional clink of metal against porcelain.

"Naruto...can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

She set her fork down. "Now that I think about it, you would camp out at that abandoned house, even on school nights..."

Naruto took a deep breath. He supposed the explanation was long past due. Even after they had started playing there together when they were kids, he had never told them the full truth. About his "turf".

So he began his tale, spinning his fork in his noodles but not eating.

"I never knew my biological parents."

Even today. He didn't know their names or faces. What kind of people they were. He had tried to research his surname but even what results he got couldn't be confirmed.

And he'd tried. And ended up meeting a bratty red-head by the name of Karin. Worked in a prison in another county. Denied any relation to him and had past connections to Orochimaru. Bad news through and through.

"So I had foster ones. The same ones since I was a baby. I think. Because I have no recollection of anyone else. They, I suspect, stuck a bottle in my mouth when I cried too much, changed my diaper when it got too smelly for them and when I became old enough to take care of myself, you know, pick food from the refrigerator or cupboard, use the bathroom and wash myself, they expected me to somehow just disappear so they could live out their pointless lives. I don't know why, they just didn't like me."

He paused for a long time. There were  _things_ , truths, better left not said, not thought about. Finally, with a settling breath: "Then, one night, some money turned up missing and the...Male Guardian thought I did it. He had been mad at me before..."

Kids would stare at him in school, thinking he was some punk who liked to get into fights. And to some degree, he did start getting into them because he didn't appreciate these spoiled kids talking trash about him. His reputation grew and worsened in those years. But that was nothing,  _nothing_ , compared to...

He looked out distantly, his hand that had been twirling the fork around frozen now. Then spoke again. "I ran away from there and I lived in that house the best a thirteen-year-old could. I didn't know anyone else. They had never taken me anywhere. I was always in the yard or the basement, or at school. And even at school, I never hung out with the kids. I never could. So they thought I was weird and I got labeled that way. And it stayed. So I saw that house and I squatted there. Soon after Iruka took me in. Well, I did also know Ichiraku. He was really nice to me. I knew how to walk to walk to his restaurant too and he treated me kindly. I felt safe there. But I didn't want to ask to stay with him. He had his own kid to feed."

His daughter. Ayame. She was also just as sweet as her old man. Their shop was their world, and they were happy together in it. He couldn't imagine them apart.

"Sick," she whispered, beginning to catch on. "That's horrible."

He shrugged. "That's life. And if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't be here. Who knows, might have lived a pointless life like them instead of trying to help people like Iruka did for me. I really liked him. He was a good teacher. I never had a dad, but he and Jiraiya was the closest things I had to one. Turned out Jiraiya was my godfather..." He paused again. Glancing down. "He just never came for me...At least not until later."

This was a truth he still to this day did not understand. But he could not hate the man for it. Somehow. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt him to pieces to ponder how his godfather left him in foster care. Or never at least told him anything about his biological parents. And if it was because he had waited for the right opening to sit down and have a long talk with Naruto...Well, his early death had cut that right off. And now Naruto would never know.

"Sometimes I wonder about my birth parents. I always looked at the other kids, when their parents picked them up from school and wanted that...But my Uzumaki surname, all I know is that it's rare and there was a woman in actual Purge files with that name. She was really beautiful but she died young. So now I'll never know who she was or who her lover was...Who my father is. If she even is my mother that is."

Temari shook her head, the fork already dropped from her hand in horror. She leaned forward, trying to give a supportive if grim half-smile. "Naruto, I know you must feel like part of you is missing, not knowing your biological parents, but you don't know what it's like. The grass isn't always green on the other side and it only proves that blood means  _nothing_. My family, we're a shining example of that. Blood never made any of us happy, Naruto. My father, he  _hated_  Gaara's guts."

This Naruto had sensed really early on. There was a palpable contempt that came off Gaara when his older siblings had told them they had to head home for curfew.

"Why?" he said. "Why did he target him specifically?"

"Because, Naruto, my mother...My mother did not survive the delivery."

Naruto looked down. "I'm sorry..."

He had heard things like that happened during childbirth. It was just rarer these days, but that didn't erase the truth that it still could happen. How horrific it must feel to the husband, to lose their lover at a time that was supposed to be the most joyous moment in their lives. But that didn't excuse catering hatred for the child for it. If anything, it should have brought the family together, in their time of mourning.

She shook her head. "My father was buried in politics. That wasn't a life to live with young kids. I mean, he even tried to send an assassin after Gaara, his own son, just to be rid of him. Gaara was always so awkward and my father cared more about the family image than his life. Gaara survived but, well, he was never the same again..."

She laughed. "Until you. You were his first friend. And the only person who he didn't scare the living crap out of."

Naruto laughed too. "Back then? I was still freaked out by him,  _trust me_. I just...got a good one on one."

They talked much longer about Gaara back then, laughing and finishing their noodles before settling in her living room, surrounded by scribbled notes and theories regarding the Uchiha case and Deidara's involvement.

The greatest puzzle to solve regarding them is what motive the Akatsuki would have to wipe the Uchiha out. If anything they could have been allies going after the Purge...This they debated about. Naruto kept telling her Itachi being a double agent back then had nothing to do with his family and it couldn't have been a revenge thing.

During so their chat shifted back away from matters of the case.

"You know..." he said, his voice soft as he stretched himself out on the couch. "The worst thing this society has done to us was create the participation trophy."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...People, they aren't born the same. There are going to be some who have to struggle and hurt and work their butts off while others get it easy. But that's life...It's life. You deny it, and you're crippling yourself. You're setting yourself up for a rude awakening."

"I guess..."

He had learned a lot of things in life the hard way. He hadn't always been given handouts. He'd been pushed down. He contributed his strength now to having to learn to overcome and to always get back up. These scumbags who killed, they were petty and slaves to their impulses. He could have ended up that way. But he hadn't. This he told himself frequently, as a member of the Purge. And it was his duty not only as an officer but as Gaara and Sasuke's friend, to finally pin every death on Deidara. So he could never again step foot outside.

He had had his chance.  _Apparently..._

"Temari, I'm going to find Deidara and make him pay for what he did. I promise you that."

_Then maybe...We can both find peace._

Her eyes started glossing up. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Trust me. I do."

_-xxxx-_

" _So what was that lead you were checking up on that night?"_

The question Kakashi had asked him echoed inside Yamato's mind as he drove. He was about to turn in for the day although there was something he had to check out before heading home.

That...lead, again.

Really a house call, one he was not exactly comfortable with but as a detective to the Purge, he tried to put those petty feelings behind.

The house was simple and inspired by traditional Japanese architecture. A little shrine here, a fountain there. Yard decor resembling a serpent. Fitting, he thought, stepping over said decor to knock on a brightly painted door. A deep red.

A pale man with dark long hair and very pale skin answered it. He had mauve lines drawn around his eyes and dipped down to give him a snake-like look. An early member of the Akatsuki who had left them before they had finally disbanded. Under house arrest. Permanent.

He was also the one who had tipped Yamato Tuesday, the third of September.

"Why, to what do I owe the pleasure,  _Tenzō_?" he cooed and it did not fail to unsettle Yamato.

"Do not," he said in a slow controlled manner, "call me that."

The man chuckled a  _ku ku_  sound.

"Let me in. We need to talk, Orochimaru."

_-xxxx-_

Naruto had hoped to wake up and leave without her noticing the following morning. It would have been easy. He had slept in a separate room after all. But that was not the case. She was already up, cooking some eggs.

"Hey, honey," she called in a mock voice, mimicking a housewife. Oh, how unfittingly funny. "You want some eggs?"

"Nah."

He tried to shower quickly while savoring every sud of soap and drop of water. He even washed the towel he'd used. He didn't want her to have to. He shouldn't have even stayed over. He appreciated her help and some notes she had provided on various Akatsuki members, but that didn't change the fact he was a sought-after man.

Once the towel and a heap of random laundry to wash with it was in the dryer he made to leave. She looked at him disappointedly.

"Naruto, I'm serious. You can stay here until this blows over."

"Temari, I know that, and I'm very grateful, but I can't stay longer than I already have. Besides, Kakashi or someone else at PH might figure we'd meet up."

She sighed in defeat. "You do have a point. Well then." She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled something out. She offered a hand, as if for a handshake.

"Good luck, Naruto."

Rolled up paper poked at his hand.

"Temari," he said, trying to at first hand the money back to her but she resisted. "I can't take this!"

"Just shut up and take it. I want you to."

Finally, he enclosed the wad in his fist. "Thank you."

"It's not much," she began.

"It's fine."

"But it's enough so you don't have to sleep on the floor. Also get some food. Alright?"

He shook his head, smiling. "I can take care of myself. Been doing it for a long time."

And so he left and took a cab.

_-xxxx-_

Coincidence was a funny thing. That they would meet at the same store, the same time...

Kakashi smiled as he ducked behind a shelf with produce. He was at the grocery store, picking up food for later. The life of a bachelor was a lonely one. When lo and behold, he saw the fugitive, leaning over another aisle. Picking out pop tarts of all things.

Naruto had for the first time in his little life had gotten himself a real haircut. Kakashi almost hadn't recognized him with his hair trimmed so short. But his face, there was no mistaking that. He had his mother's face. Round still, although it was beginning to sharpen in its features, making him start to resemble his father more.

He still hadn't noticed the Captain in the next aisle, peeking over at him.

What was he doing still in town? Who was Kakashi kidding, Naruto would never leave home. He briefly mused as to where he might be staying...

He followed him discreetly. If he came out, Naruto would run away. So he kept hidden. The younger officer remained oblivious but only because Kakashi was very good at what he did. Naruto did, though, turn around a few times, looking over his shoulders. But he tended to have an apprehensive nature about him when he was alone.

He had since he was a child. He would always look over his shoulder. It had become nature out of reflex.

He grabbed a few items, mostly non-perishable foods that didn't require warming up or cooling. So either he had gotten himself a cheap motel room that didn't have a microwave or fridge or he was sleeping on the street.

At the checkout line, he got stuck behind a heavy-set lady with a shopping cart full of goods. Kakashi stayed behind, still just observing. Trying to figure when was the best time to catch his attention and find a private spot to chat.

This is when another man caught his attention as he came behind Naruto with a few plant products in hand. He seemed familiar, and then it hit him why.

It was Zetsu, but he wasn't all decked up like he used to be. In the Akatsuki days, he was an eco-terrorist with a split personality. He reflected these two personas on the outside by body paint. One side white, the other black. His personalities were represented by those two colors. There was no in-between. He was supposedly cured and "white" now. This Kakashi would have accepted while still being skeptic. But when he saw how his hair had been dyed back to a moldy grey green, he cursed.

He wasn't painted, yes, but that hair was calling back to his past criminal days. Kakashi discreetly made way to the checkout line opposite of theirs. His hand already hovering over his gun and badge, which had been tucked in his holster and hidden by his jacket.

The lady with the big cart was getting into an argument with the cashier, demanding that the clearance sticker on an item was the correct one when the cashier told her repeatedly it did not originate from that item and she could not sell it to her for that price.

Their voices, specifically the customer's, was getting louder. Naruto tried intervening but the lady would not have it. Zetsu, undoubtedly not realizing who he was standing behind when he was wearing a cap and had his back turned on him tapped his foot impatiently.

"Geez, hurry up and just pay it, lady!"

Naruto swirled around instantly, recognizing the voice. His eyes widened.

"Zetsu?" he said loudly.

Zetsu started. "Woah! You look different. W-What are  _you_  doing here?"

Naruto was glaring but remembering the update on his release tried to be a bit more tolerable.

But just a bit.

"You better not cause any trouble or you'll end up back at PH."

"Yeah, yeah, it's that  _idiot_  in front of you that's the one causing trouble."

" _Excuse_ me?!" the lady squealed, spinning around somehow in the tiny space there was between conveyer belt and the other register.

"You heard me,  _fatty._ "

The voice had deepened. Naruto, recognizing it and that fact, came up to him carefully, his hands up and waving for him to calm down.

"Listen, man, how about we just go to another checkout line. Alright? No big deal."

He was talking as one might a child.

Black Zetsu found it condensing because he moved to strike him. Naruto ducked just in time. The people around gasped and then, recovering, shouted.

"Hey!" he cried, swooping back up. "That's not needed, alright? You don't want to be Black, Zetsu. You really don't. Or you'll have to go to Headquarters and have talks with that doctor."

Black didn't care, instead made to tackle again. Naruto, rolling his eyes, ducked to the side then spun around, shoving the man to against the counter. Produce fell everywhere as the man was pushed into it, bent over. Naruto had grabbed a fistful of his hair in one hand in with the other his wrists.

He leaned close to his ear, speaking quickly and quietly, a threat no doubt. Then louder "I don't want to have to take you down to Headquarters again. Calm down and you're free to go. If not...Well, is it really worth the trouble?"

He was playing him. Naruto had no authority to arrest him right now, let alone even cuffs. But Zetsu didn't know that.

He seemed to shudder. He was White then, as White had more of a childlike personality about him. Really naive. "I just wanted to get fertilizer for my plant!"

"You will. Look, I'll even  _pay_  for it."

Zetsu gave him a very strange look, then laughed. There was something odd...

A few minutes, Zetsu was walking contentedly away, his bags full. Outside, Naruto was shaking.

Kakashi couldn't tell if it was fear or anger. Probably both.

"You handled that like a professional. Psychological problems that rooted aren't as easy to handle as just say, a simply petty greedy criminal."

Naruto spun around.

"How long were you standing there!?"

"Oh," Kakashi hummed, further inspecting Naruto up close. Second-hand clothes. Freshly showered. "Just the entire time."

He scowled. "You know how ugly that could have turned out? I could feel his killing intent! I'm lucky the trash bag didn't have a gun! Because another one took mine!"

"And I would have intervened," he answered, tapping his hand on his thigh.

"You were purposely waiting," Naruto accused angrily. "To intervene when it made you look cool! You being more concerned with making a cool entrance could have gotten me killed!"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Alright. You got me."

"Whatever." Naruto shook his head, arms crossed but his anger quickly dissipated as a thought seemed to cross his mind.

"Captain," he said quietly. "Did you notice his wrist?"

"In all honesty, not really."

"There was a clunky looking watch-like thing strapped to it."

"Not ours'. Our trackers go on the ankle."

Naruto's brow was furrowed and he muttered under his breath, "Did Kisame have one too?"

"Huh?"

Naruto didn't answer, just stared at him.

"I'm not going back."

"I know, Naruto."

"Then why're you following me through the store?"

"Because that's what detectives do when they want to know what someone is up to. They  _observe_."

Now Naruto was annoyed. "And what have you observed?"

"You're living out of a backpack. Crashing different places. You can't keep this up long."

"I can for as long as it takes."

"You don't know how long that is, Naruto," Kakashi answered chidingly.

They both knew he was speaking out of concern.

"Naruto...I've talked to Tsunade. She really wants you to just stay in one of our safe houses."

He glanced down. "That would be easy. But I'm not going to be trapped in some house, with random people keeping tabs of my whereabouts. I need to be out here, trying to figure this out...My own way."

The entire answer did not sound good but the ending bit of his statement concerned Kakashi the most.

" _She_  told you about the hair, didn't she?"

He could see the questioning expression on his face, the  _how'd ya know?_  one. He mentally scoffed.

_Oh please, I'm not an amateur._

"Temari did," Naruto answered slowly.

Of course, she did.

"That doesn't mean you go stalk him down, Naruto. You let me do that. We'll find him."

Anger suddenly crossed his face. "How'd he escape you in the first place?!"

Kakashi mentally cursed Temari.

"I'm still trying to figure that out, Naruto."

He was so angry, he swung his hand on the next declaration. "How the heck does the Purge just happen to  _miss_ him!?"

People were looking. Naruto realized he was attracting attention and took a deep and calming breath. "I'm sorry, Captain. I've just...I miss home and everyone but...I just gotta do this on my own."

Kakashi should have dragged him by the ear and into his car. To Headquarters where the Alpha would berate him on running. For being so reckless...

But Naruto would never forgive him. So Kakashi began to turn away. "Alright, but keep out of public places from now on. Eyes are watching."

This Naruto knew and nodded. "I will."

"And really, you really, really need to get out of town."

"No. I'm not leaving."

Stubborn as always.

Kakashi and he parted ways, but for some reason, Kakashi could not stop grinning. The boy had grown so fast from that impulsive teen into an almost just as rash young man.

But no matter. He needed to stalk Zetsu down. No, see where he was going. He was checking in with his parole officer, yes, but something...Something wasn't right. He was behaving too good.

Kakashi followed behind him carefully, already behind but content with being so. Discreteness was key. But then, as if he knew he was being followed, his path suddenly became random...

And Kakashi lost him in the throngs of people and buildings.

_-xxxx-_

Naruto after finding a cheaper room to stay in this time with his alias had made way to the center of the city, on a spare bench, where he could people watch and do some research on his phone.

There had been a clunky device attached to Zetsu's wrist. It hadn't had the time on it. But a big face that could produce text. Was it some kind of active thing? No, it seemed too cumbersome to be one. He wished he had gotten a closer look. He even tried doing a web search. Nothing came up that looked anything like it.

Strange.

He then sent a quick email to Hinata.

_**I'm sorry. I was selfish and should have told you before my intentions.** _

His phone buzzed a while later. An email. Hinata.

His heart began to race, his hands felt warm and damp with sweat as he frantically opened up the message.

_**I was wrong to overreact.** _

No, he thought, she really hadn't been. He read on.

_**A lot of the squads are starting to really debate about everything.** _

_**I've never seen it so bad. Kiba got in a fight with Shino then Shikamaru.** _

He quickly responded.

_**Over what? What's going on?** _

She took a little longer than him with her reply.

_**You. The case. How it should have been handled.** _

_**It doesn't help you're still gone...** _

_**Anyway, I did look into everything.** _

_**Or really, I tried.** _

_**Alpha saw me in the Records Room so I had to leave.** _

_**But what I saw before that is there is a new initiative.** _

_**Salvageable members are being sent to other places.** _

_**Like Kisame was working at the dock.** _

_**Others have similar jobs now.** _

_**A lot of parole rules though. Very strict.** _

_**Supposed to report to special members.** _

_**I didn't catch who. File impaired.** _

_**Then there was a title. D.W. Initiative.** _

_**On a file missing its content.** _

_**I thought that was odd.** _

_**Recent.** _

_D.W.?_

Another message came. Much shorter.

_**I don't know what it is.** _

_**But it is connected somehow to Orochimaru.** _

_**His studies. But, again, tampered files.** _

_**Don't know.** _

He swore. Orochimaru was a name he didn't like seeing. And anything connected to him you could expect to be quite twisted.

_**Naruto...** _

Suddenly his phone was ringing. He nearly dropped it out of surprise. This wasn't the notification jingle, but the full-on telephone ring.

He answered. "Can't really talk, dear..."

Hopefully, she could hear the wave of people in the background. She must have because her reply was on the dot. Rehearsed sounding.

" _I'm sorry. I just...Stay safe."_

There was a yearning in her voice. And worry.

His heart panged.

"I am. And thank you. A lot...I'm sorry about the day before."

" _It's fine. But I would have helped voluntarily. After a while."_

There was a pause.

" _I'm scared. Everyone is talking about the massacre..."_

"Hey," he started. "Everything's going to be alright."

He could picture her at her desk, hand pressed to her forehead, fingers going in circles over her crinkled brow.

"It's going to be alright," he repeated. "Nothing to be afraid of. We'll find everyone responsible. I swear."

There was a relieved sigh on the end.

This, too, he could picture. And suddenly he wanted to embrace her.

"I love you," he suddenly said. It came out of nowhere. Then it didn't, he was saying it again, fully aware of what the words his lips were speaking "I really do. Thank you, so much."

There was a noise. Something fell? He didn't know but it made him smile.

And then the phone was silent. She had hung up. He laughed out loud now, knowing well she had not meant to hang up on him on purpose like that.

A final message came.

_**I love you too. When this is over I want to get together.** _

Shame on him for not just taking the dive the day before yesterday. So he replied back quickly before slipping the phone in his pocket.

_**Alright. It's a promise. There. Nothing to worry about now.** _

_**I keep my word. We'll all get through this, no more deaths.** _

_**Hope you don't mind Ichiraku.** _

He swore after his message had sent and it was too late to take back the ramen comment. It was instinct, an impulse by now, to think of Ichiraku's as the go-to place for eating out. Even for dates. She was just the kind of girl to not care, just as long as they were together. A real sweetheart.

Although, the thought of Ichiraku made something in him sour for probably the first time in his life.

The man had denied he had been there...That still didn't make sense. He could have sworn he had stopped there Friday night. Then again, he could have been just mentally lost after that odd exchange between him and Fugaku Uchiha.

He briefly considered giving Ichiraku a personal visit but all thoughts of doing so were obliterated when his line of sight caught onto two people, walking together in the night crowd. Talking and heading to an art store.

Deidara and Sasori.

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

 **Be here tomorrow for the next part** **.**

**And if you liked this, be sure to follow.**

**And if you**   _ **really**_ **liked this, be sure to leave a review. Tell me the whys so I can keep it in mind while these are being posted.**

**If you hated this, leave a review anyway. I like to think I'm open-minded toward criticism.**

 


	8. The Fifth

 

**DATE POSTED: 8/10/17**

* * *

_Naruto's line of sight caught onto two people, walking together in the night crowd. Talking and heading to an art store._

_Deidara and Sasori._

* * *

**SEVEN DEVILS**

**The Fifth**

* * *

_It was a special day for him. The initiation trial. But today, it had turned out quite serious. A hostage situation, involving the mayor and his family. Yet, Naruto could not help be giddy with excitement. This was his chance to do something big. To save the day! It was this comic book scenario he had always dreamed of._

_There was no doubt in his young mind that everything was going to turn out right, and the bad guys caught._

So naive. _Of course, things had to go horrifically wrong._

_And even after most of the chaos had died down, he still found himself standing at a great pool of blood. He was standing there, looking in horror at the pool. The body. The body belonged to his best friend. And he could only think that single truth for a moment. His best friend. In that puddle. That was Gaara..._

_Gaara._

Naruto sat on the edge of a counter now. Thinking carefully about what it was he was about to do.

He had taken Kakashi's words to heart yesterday evening. A detective observes. So he had carefully followed the two ex-Akatsuki members into the store they had casually ventured together. Listened in on their conversation. It had been on Deidara's new living quarters at first. He was griping about the new place. His previous quarters had been "compromised", to which Sasori had responded that it was his own fault.

So Sasori had to either be involved in the Uchiha Case, or else be aware of it at the bare minimum. It was no surprise. Though they were known to have their arguments (on true art of all things) the two when it came down to it just worked together well as partners in crime. Sasori was a relentless planner, his acts slow but very proficient, and then Deidara came in, fast and furious, usually with explosives of some sort. They had worked together in the Akatsuki before, right in front during the Suna mess.

Naruto had listened further, finding himself openly glaring at the products on the shelf in front of him. The men had went first to the wood section, Sasori was saying he'd rendered all his carving tools useless from overuse. Deidara had to buy more clay. Apparently they had had some time on their hands...? Then they left, not saying much else that would have proven useful. Why would they? The store had been a public place.

But out of public...They began to split, and it was then Naruto had to pick which one was of higher priority. Deidara of course. Sasori wasn't officially linked to the case. Yet. But if he was truly involved, Naruto or the Purge would find out and he would get his...

Deidara on the other hand. There was no doubt.

His obsessive MO. His freaking hair. But what was his motive? Besides to frame Naruto himself—that,  _that_  was understandable but the Uchiha?

_That day. Deidara stood before him, between him and the body, a gun in hand. He turned, a surprised expression on his face and an oath on his lips._

_And Naruto's body was automatically moving on its own, ripping the Kyuubi from Kakashi's holster..._

On sat his perch, he took a deep breath. He could do this...

_Yes._

Deidara had stood at his car, a sleek black gas-hog, fumbling for the keys in his black jean pockets. Bumper stickers on back. Even an anarchy one.

Cute.

By the time he finally noticed Naruto, apparently having a lot of things on his mind before that point, it was too late. and Naruto was hitting him on the back of the neck. Deidara wordlessly fell. Naruto fished his keys from the ground and pushed him into his car. Then the drive had begun. To a place they could talk in quiet.

The old house. No one would disturb them there.

So now he sat, on its counter. Deidara was still passed out and had slept through the night, propped up against the wall. Naruto had sat in front of him the entire time, thinking carefully.

He had tied his wrists together, after inspecting a gadget that had been attached to his right wrist. Naruto had no clue what it even was and was sure it was the same one he had seen on Zetsu. A black watch-like thing, one he had been unable to figure out how to remove...In any case, Deidara was technically at his mercy. But getting him to talk was another thing altogether.

And Naruto would be ignorant to not admit there was obvious baggage that could affect him...

_Deidara of the Akatsuki the organization that had caused so much trouble, killed the mayor, and his eldest son, and now the youngest..._

_Naruto ripped the weapon from Kakashi's holster, the Kyuubi, and shot it at Deidara before Kakashi had even processed what had just happened, screaming._

_Bam!_

_The man fell, grabbing his arm, but that single successful shot wasn't enough to put the man out of his game and somehow he was able to keep moving, preparing to grab hold of his own gun. But neither was Naruto done._

_But before he could empty that magazine into the man, or Kakashi could grab hold of him, an earthquake, no, explosions in the building, going off on their timer. Small but enough to rattle the room they were in now. No doubt planted by Deidara himself in attempt to destroy evidence, as ordered by Pain at the time._

_Then heat, heat all around him. His ears rang._

Ringing, his anger, focusing out everything else so all there was was a single tone. Truth. This man was guilty. There would be a reaping. A purging. Because Deidara was a monster. One who had killed Gaara and even all these years later still tried to use bombs to destroy evidence. Had less than a week ago been part of a genocide. A  _genocide_.

No. There was no excuse.

Naruto got to his feet and slapped the man, waking him.

Deidara blinked at first, looking confused, then focused in on Naruto who stood before him, arms crossed.

"Hello Deidara," he said slowly, in a very controlled manner.

"Ah, crap."

Naruto almost smiled. "You wanna tell me why your hair was found on the Uchiha estate Wednesday morning? One that had been booby-trapped with  _bombs_?"

Deidara getting his bearings further, taking in the old run down house and the fact his limbs were tied, finally glanced back to Naruto, a cocky smile on his lips. "You tell me,  _officer_."

Naruto laughed darkly. Oh boy. He was going this route.

"You going to do this, Deidara?"

The man grinned confidently and really with a not-care attitude. "I'm pretty sure this isn't legal. But, heck, have at it. I ain't telling you nothing."

Something in him ticked. Flashed. Like a spark.

_A cry and shove._

_The gun was forced from his hand. And all became quiet. The place was on fire. But all Naruto could see was Deidara who had attempted to run for safety. Yamato had cornered him, preventing him from escaping..._

_So much fire, it was consuming him, and Naruto ran._

"Start talking or I swear..." he warned one last time.

Deidara looked him in the eye, smirking. Challenging him.

Suddenly, he was back in time, overcome once more and slugging him between questions the man still refused to answer...

_He was on top the man, punching away, screaming profanity, each word emphasized further with each punch. Gaara, his friend was...Blood was flicking from his fists, flicking everywhere. A glob splatted and slid down his cheek._

_A broken and repeating exclamation kept leaving his lips. "What have you done, what have you done?!"_

_The only answer he got was reactions from each strike, groans, and hisses._

" _Kakashi!" Yamato's voice. "He's going to kill him!"_

" _Stop it, Naruto!"_

_Someone, Kakashi, bolted his direction, tackling him to the ground. They wrestled briefly, Naruto still screaming at Deidara. Kakashi was relentless, trying to force him to still. Naruto didn't even know what he was saying anymore, just pure rage..._

_Gaara was..._

_Then it hit him, the death, all over again, and he began sobbing for his lifeless friend, Kakashi straddling him still._

_When it became apparent the rage had temporarily passed, Kakashi released and stood over him, a sad expression on his face as Naruto curled up and cried. The detective's voice now spoke softly, if raw, "I'm sorry...Naruto."_

_Yamato's mouth had dropped and he glanced back to Deidara, who was still laying there, nearly catatonic, covered in his own blood. The rest was on the floor. And Naruto._

" _Come on," Kakashi said softly, grabbing Naruto's arm. "You need to get back to base. Here, Yamato, take him to the car."_

Pure wrath, it consumed him. And he knew it, but at this point, after all the deaths, he didn't care.

"You were there! Why did you do it, and for who?!"

Silence.

_The men were arguing. The door had a window, covered by thin paper. Naruto could see their outlines. They were face to face. Angry._

_He could hear the younger of the two, Yamato he believed. "This is_ exactly  _why we don't bring trainee_ minors  _on the field!"_

" _It was just an initiation. The Alpha cleared it!"_

" _Did she clear the gun, huh?!" There was a slam as something clattered to the desk. "He nearly_ killed  _him!"_

" _And I would have taken full responsibility."_

_A scoff. "When have you ever taken responsibility for him, huh?"_

_A clatter. A chair, fallen._

" _Yamato, I highly suggest you keep a proper tone with your superior."_

_It went dead silent._

_The slam of the door as Yamato left. His angry eyes briefly met a then fifteen Naruto's and softened. The officer had handcuffed him back in the car and he still remained so, his hands close together and balled up on his lap. The tear streaks from earlier were still visible through the grime on his face._

_It had been a heck of a day._

_For him, and the lone survivor of the Suna family. They must have hugged each other for a solid five minutes, just standing there. No no one else had been able to approach her but him. Apparently, they had known each other before today. No, this had been made obvious by his reaction to the teen's death._

" _I'm...I'm sorry you had to...To go through this, kid. The only comfort I can give you is advice, don't step foot here again." The man walked away._

_Naruto's head had sunk at the man's words, but he remained fixed where he was at now, the hallway still, eyes watching the door to Kakashi's office closely. He was in trouble, he knew this. They had every right to throw him in a cell. They probably would._

_A few minutes later, he was summoned._

_He wiped the tears from his face, the cuffs rattling and glanced to the side. Jiraiya was there, had been called in specifically to be with him during this. He hadn't wanted Iruka to be involved._

_His godfather gave a reassuring nod. "What happens, happens. You'll be okay."_

_He had frozen at the door, but Jiraiya nudged him through it. "You take responsibility. That's what you do, alright?"_

_He took those words to heart. Or he tried to. But it was hard._

_On the desk, a gun bagged as evidence glistened. The Kyuubi. Sleek and alluring. A power._

_Kakashi sat behind his desk, fingers interlocked. Naruto noticed the scar under his eyepatch for the first time and wondered how he got it. Wondered if he got it while on a case as a Purger._

_He wondered if he would ever get another chance again. And truth be told, he braced himself for a backhand. But that was not how things were done here. He was in trouble, but that was being pushed to the side. He had just dealt with something traumatic. The detective explained this carefully to him as he himself unlocked the handcuffs and tucked them away._

_That and the fact he was still allowed to be apart of the Purge if he so chose. He would be on probation for a while. But Naruto didn't care about that. It was the fact he could stay._

_This man was not going to shut the door on Naruto's face as so many, even himself had done._

_Naruto had a choice, remain here, keep training, or fade and become obsolete._

_Naruto was straight up flabbergasted._

_An eyebrow arched up at his uncharacteristic disability to talk._

" _I understand if you want to quit this organization after today."_

" _No," he finally whispered. "I will. I never want anyone to feel what I do. So I will keep training. I'll get better. I will Purge."_

It was his oath.

Which was why he did not understand how Deidara could be such a scumbag. What was there to gain that was worth snuffing out so many lives? What besides a continued degradation of the soul? How far did he have to go before he bore actual regret? Ugh, that smug look Deidara had given ticked him off.

"Why?!" He demanded, slugging him as hard as he could, all his anger compressed into one last hit.

Deidara only shook his head. His face bloody. He spat.

"Nng."

Yet he still said nothing. Nothing about the case at least. Plenty of insults and back-and-forths.

Naruto stormed out, leaving him there.

In the hallway, its walls bleak and termite ridden, cracked, the wallpaper peeling, the fabrics tearing at the seam, he began pacing. Back and forth, his breath labored. Increasingly so. Not working. Why wasn't it working?! Why couldn't he just spit it out already?!

He didn't just kill an entire family estate for nothing! Something was going on and it involved more than ex-Akatsuki members. He had to know who.

Cripes, just thinking about what Sasuke must be feeling during all this. Even his freaking father. His freaking father. No one deserved that.

And every second Deidara stayed silent,  _they_  won. They got away. With Naruto as their scapegoat.

No. He would not let that happen!

He came back again, wrenching Deidara from the seat and dragged him towards a large basin of water. The water had come from years of rain, leaking at the ceiling. He grabbed his hair by the base of the tail and shoved it in under the water so his entire head was submerged. The man thrashed. Naruto held firm and only after he was sure he could not take it anymore, did he throw him out.

Deidara spluttered, coughing and choking.

"Tell me!" he roared. "Who're you working for! You didn't just kill an entire family for your own amusement, no it was dirty work for someone else! Tell me who!"

The bodies only kept piling up. It never ended. Pictures upon pictures. Cold steel cabinets and rooms.

"WHO?!"

Deidara laughed, his head pointed downward. Tired. His hair wet hair clumping together. "We both know what this is  _really_ about. This is about your own failure. Not for the Uchiha Clan, no, your other little friend. Keep it coming, brat."

Ridiculous. Naruto hissed, his teeth grinding together. He bashed him into the side of the basin and the man laughed again recovering.

No. Screw that. His thoughts raced, no longer were they thoughts, just vented impulses.

Another dip, again and again, until Deidara gave out, and lost unconsciousness.

"Oh no you don't," Naruto cried, smacking him. Trying to force him awake again. "Get up!"

When that failed he dragged him back to the side and again found himself anxiously pacing.

No, not freaking good enough. Naruto could feel his anger spiking even more, his body trembling. He was literally shaking by this point, his heart pounding in his ears. It had been hours.  _Hours_. Deidara was taking up his time. And with every minute, the people he was covering could be getting away. Or worse. How easy it would be for them to render the city in fear. They already had. An entire family had been massacred. Who's next? the people would ask.  _Who's next?_

If not them, certainly the Purge. Purge...

He grabbed a knife, no forethought behind the action. Only impulse now as he stormed back into the room, and kicked Deidara. It roused him, and he blinked, awake. Naruto bent down, pressing the blade to his right shoulder, just hard enough to barely break skin. But enough to threaten to dig it in there and slide it right down. He had every intention of doing just that.

And he stared at Deidara hard, sure he knew it too.

"You're going to start talking. Now. Or I'll give you to Ibiki in  _pieces_."

Deidara smirked still, even as blood dripped from his lips. Challenging him still. " _Do_  it. Keep trying to play the knight when you're only proving you're as petty as what you claim to stand against."

Red, he was seeing red, his fist tightening around the blade, his anger palpable, he pulled it back for the thrust and—

Suddenly, something jabbed into him. With electricity. It exploded, hot and furious. He screamed, the pain overwhelming.

Then he was falling, falling...The blade clattering against the floor.

From behind, Kakuzu caught him. Naruto was unconscious by then and lay limply in the Akatsuki member's arms.

"We're not supposed to touch him," Deidara spat.

"He would have killed you."

"I had everything under control."

"That is highly disputable. In any case, we aren't losing track of him again." He hefted him so Naruto was draped over his shoulder. "The brat's coming with us. And  _this_  time, there won't be an escape."

_-xxx-_

"What are you doing?"

Sasuke had been sitting at Sakura's dining room table, just staring out the window. It was a sunny day, the weather perfect. The air cool and the sky clear. The kind of day that made parents want to take their kids out to picnic at the local park.

Inside, where the air felt tense, too tense, Sakura continued dragging various pieces furniture and pushing them up against the wall, thus warranting Sasuke's previous question.

"I want to spar," she answered. "That alright?"

Sasuke blinked. "Spar?"

"Yeah. Aren't you and Naruto always going at each other? Isn't it time I get a turn?"

Nevermind that half the time that they sparred it was either because they were really fighting or otherwise trying to prove themselves the bigger man. But yeah, at the end of the day it was dubbed a "spar".

"I guess..." he said slowly. It just seemed odd to suddenly initiate it in her small front room. Back at...He used to practice in a room specifically designated for fights. It had padded floors and proper equipment. But a living room would suffice too if both parties were careful.

"We both could use the practice and exercise," Sakura said, pushing a couch out of the way now. Sasuke came beside her to help and together they pushed it against the wall, leaving nothing but a carpeted area.

"Come on," she said, smiling. She got in a basic attack stance, her fists raised. She had tucked her hair into a ponytail and gotten dressed into black active capris and a light pink tank. After a moment, Sasuke decided to go with it.

And it began. Light strikes at first. Just to get the read on the other. Sakura was a heavy hitter who liked to pour herself into her strikes, which caused her to exhaust herself faster. She aimed punches at him now, being a bit more cautious, aware of this trait about her. Besides, this was a simple spar. Her life was in no danger, so she could afford to hit lightly.

Sasuke did too. Just light enough that in case she failed to dodge or block, she would not be hurt.

Their spar was friendly like this for a short while. Light conversation mixed in or laughs from Sakura when either she hit and it landed or when he managed to strike her, the force behind his fist very intentionally controlled.

"So," she said, ducking from his fist, then leaping when he tried tripping her. "Think the Akatsuki's involved?"

His next strike came faster than he meant it to and smacked into her cheek. He cursed. "Sorry."

"It's alright," she laughed, taking a moment to rub her face then brace herself again. She did so expertly, ducking rather than blocking. Then switched to offense, so it was his turn to play defense, his eyes scanning her positions carefully.

She had been trained by the Alpha herself, one of three Purge legends. Tsunade, Jiraiya. And Orochimaru. All still were, the ones that were still alive at least. Tsunade had taught Sakura control. She was good. But not his level good.

And she commented on this.

"How long you've been fighting? Before the Purge, right?"

"Yes," he answered, ducking as she swung a pale fist at him. He countered. "With my brother."

They exchanged a few silent blows for a while before she started again.

"Your father teach you?"

His strike again landed, but in her arms as she held them up for a block. She gave a quiet and brief hiss, lowering them but quickly recovered.

He stared at her. She stared back.

"Well, did he?"

"Yes."

"Ah. I see."

Why had she initiated this? There was clearly a goal. He could see that from a mile away.

He was suddenly given no time to answer this question because she began to assail him, giving him no room for quarter. He dodged each attempt she made but before he could counter with his own, she was on him again.

"Look," she said between each aimed strike, "I don't know what all happened between you two, or why your brother has been gone for so long, and why he has yet to even visit the morgue but—"

She stopped and did not block his hand. The strike sent her skidding back, but she held her stance for the most part.

He was breathing heavily by this point, as was she. "No," he just said. That's all he did. As if it was an adequate response.

Her brow furrowed. Not good enough.

She pushed forward, swinging her fist full-throttle. Not holding anything back. He evaded each strike but exerted a lot of energy doing so. This was suddenly becoming draining for a simple spar.

"Your family is dead! Yet you don't seem to care!" she finally exclaimed, feinting with her right then slamming her knee upward. It caught him in his thigh, and he punched her back. No longer holding back. "Don't you dare," he spat angrily, throwing another punch, this one aimed for her face. She braced herself, too late to dodge. It made contact and she was sent backward.

She did not call for him to stop though only braced herself further as he assailed her, at his full capacity and she did too, in return, to the best of her abilities.

"Don't you dare even imply that! You have  _no_  clue!"

She was rocked back and slammed against the wall. He hovered over her closely, straddling her. His eyes glossy.

There. That was it. That look. They stared into each other's eyes, mouths inches apart.

And as if coming to his senses, he pulled back, his eyes widening. "What—I didn't mean...Sakura, are you alright? I'm sorry."

She shook her head, smiling. "No. I'm fine."

He glanced down, frowning. "I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"I'm fine, Sasuke. Don't treat me like a doll."

She grabbed hold and pushed herself to him. "It's okay."

He was frozen for a moment. Then, slowly, wrapped his arms around her. Tightly. Just holding.

And she sighed. It had been days. And not once had he cried. Not once. She tightened her hold around him. "Sasuke...Cap needs your help. If you know something...Please, for their sake, and yours, for closure, give them it."

_-xxx-_

This was how Sasuke found himself back at the estate he used to call home. Hadn't been here in years.

Kakashi came behind him, a baffled expression on his face for a moment before it became a mask of indifference.

"I'll admit, I'm surprised," he spoke.

"I just needed time. I'm fine," Sasuke answered simply, standing there, outside the gates. Had dressed in a light jacket. His usually spiky hair covered by an indigo crochet hat. He was also wearing shades. He was less conspicuous this way. "Besides, there's something I need to show you."

Sasuke began leading him to the center of the compound, his sight pointed straight. By now what was left of the bodies had been cleared. But that didn't change the fact there was yellow evidence tags and residue from the bombs. Houses destroyed...

He kept on his path to what was left of the building. Burnt walls. Broken glass. Dangerous.

"Help me with this wood," Sasuke said, bending down in attempt to hoist a fallen beam up. "It's under here."

"What, Sasuke? There's nothing more. We already combed through everything, well to the best of our abilities. We had the blueprints to this place for reference and everything."

Sasuke slowly shook his head. "There is a special room. It would not be on the blueprints. Or any, and I mean  _any_  records."

Kakashi gaped at him. Sasuke said nothing, his head lowered.

Together they hefted the beam and threw it out of the way. Once clear from the floor, Sasuke walked back and forth a bit, tapping his foot on the ground. It was so black with burnt residue, crisp flaky blood, ashes from paper, so much so that you could not see the original flooring. It was a moment later the tap of his foot sounded different and Kakashi stilled.

"If Itachi and my suspicions are correct..."

"Impossible."

"No," he said. "The only thing my family did right, security."

With that he tucked his fingers to the floor and pulled what was a black rug from the ground, revealing an emblem with an eye that was etched onto the floor. It's pupil a handle. He grabbed hold of it, twisting it this way and that. A pattern. And suddenly, the ground was shaking under them then sliding. Kakashi nearly leaped back as a hole made itself seen.

A secret entrance.

"I suspect," he said carefully, "that this will be emptied out."

And sure enough, after descending a metal ladder, they found in a big spacious room, it's wall having that strange emblem again, with an open eye and wings and a sword. On the concrete ground were scrapes, as if big heavy objects had been scraped across the ground. Sasuke crouched down, the pads of his fingers tracing across these marrs.

"They took it."

"Sasuke," Kakashi said stiffly. "What was down here?"

Sasuke kept his eyes to the floor. To the back, was a body. They didn't need to look at it to know who it belonged to. To see that they had gone down with a fight.

Above him. A fallen plaque:

**Quis custodiet ipsos custodes**

_Who guards the guardian._

"My father kept too close an eye on the city and everyone. Being a PI and in security wasn't enough for him or his followers. Aligning with the Purge after they had taken over and even offered an olive branch, an alliance...Even though it was decades ago, was still considered blasphemy to our clan. My father..So discontent, he had dirt on everyone. Computers with countless footage. From hidden cameras and mics. He had his eyes everywhere. Itachi always said he suspected he was going to try usurping the Purge one day..."

Kakashi stared at him, his dropped mouth hidden by his scarf. "What are you saying?"

"That the killers took it. Kakashi...The files, the computer and surveillance systems themselves. The blackmail. That's why they killed them. To take that power away from the Uchiha. And now, they have it. They have our eyes...everywhere."

_-xxx-_

Kakashi was on his phone, outside, pacing back and forth. On the third ring, Tsunade answered. " _What is it?"_

"The Uchiha," he said quickly. "This is higher than the Akatsuki. Someone is pulling the strings."

He had spoken fast. There was a pause, he almost repeated himself.

" _We knew this,"_  she answered doubtfully.

"No, not to  _this_ degree. Tsunade, you need to up security. Get ahold of the mayor. His family."

" _And what?"_  she said skeptically.

"I don't know," he shouted. Then lowered his voice. "I don't know...But I do know that this was not revenge. It was genocide. And more. They have dirt, tons of it. All we know they could start a civil war or coup. We've probably been breached as well. Bugs everywhere."

" _Kakashi, it's alright."_

He stood still, raising a brow.

She clarified herself. " _I would know if we've been breached. We are good. But as for the Uchiha...I always did suspect they were overstepping boundaries. I was just unaware of how far they would really go."_

"And now they're dead for it," he said.

" _Kakashi,"_ she said slowly. " _You have a case. But don't be rash, chasing after conspiracies. Just figure out who and things will fall into place as they should."_

Then she hung up.

_-xxx-_

7/10. Yesterday.

"Let me in. We need to talk, Orochimaru."

After some further goading, the strange man finally let his old...experiment in. That was a story Yamato didn't like telling. A story of tanks and data. Numbers...It was the third Alpha that had caught on to what was going on and brought him in. The Purge became his new life. But still, he could not help but be the one to check up on Orochimaru.

Inside, the old man sat down at a small table that had been laid out with some tea. In the background, he caught sight of an underling and fellow scientist, Kabuto. Under his glasses, Kabuto's eyes followed him a little too closely before he was told to take his leave.

Orochimaru ignored Yamato's questioning gaze and sipped his tea. "I told you everything. I have sources, too, dear Yamato. I know things. There has been some delightfully suspicious activity at the old firehouse."

The firehouse had ironically caught fire one night. Orochimaru chuckled at this. "They hopped stations, of course, the original was too far to the edge of town that they never bothered doing anything with it further. It seems others have begun utilizing it for their own goals."

"I went through there, Orochimaru. Nothing but fire residue."

Orochimaru again chuckled. "I suspected as much. In any case, I waited to see to see the fruits of their actions, a way of knowing the enemy, and I believe I've noticed some trends of late."

"What are you saying?"

"That I had some research stolen from me a while back. I never reported it but now I think it's in our best interests that I do."

Yamato tensed. Research? So he was still up to his suspicious sciences. Of course, he was. It was embedded into his head. His way of life.

"What were your reports on?" he asked. "And you should have reported it sooner."

Orochimaru only shook his head, his lips twitching into a knowing smile. "You're the supposed detective. You find out."

He grinned at Yamato's scowl. Then answered, tilting his head. "Reports with various data on small explosives, for a limited range. And metal resistant to, well, certain attempts at tampering."

"Like what?"

"Oh, you know, ones that would protect any inside mechanics from being susceptible to EMPs, extreme voltage...Basically, they want their crap to survive and not be able to be tampered with."

Two questions instantly came to mind. Why would Orochimaru need such knowledge, and...

"What kind of mechanics we talking?"

Orochimaru had just chuckled.

Yamato had explored the station going off Orochimaru's previous hints before even that night, nearly a week ago by now and had found nothing. Maybe evidence of some squatters, but they weren't there that night and there was nothing he could do about it.

Although, the fiery residue he found seemed more recent and not from an accidental fire like the one that had half-destroyed the facility many years ago. He had contributed them to fireworks being set off from perhaps mischievous teenagers.

Why did he get the feeling that that had been a gross miscalculation now?

He sat in his office at Headquarters now. Trying to piece together every subtle hint dropped by Orochimaru regarding his missing research and its connection to the old fire station. There was something Orochimaru knew but was holding back for his own sadistic amusement.

Before he could ponder on it more, he was getting a call from Kakashi.

"What is it?"

Sasuke had just opened a door.

_-xxx-_

It had been hours since Sasuke had left. And Sakura was content. He had gotten  _something_  out of his system. It might not have been tears, but it was something. She rubbed her sore face a bit before deciding that it was not helping and by this point, she was utterly fine.

She'd be sore. But she would be fine. No damage.

She checked her phone. A message. Tsunade. Dinner.

Sakura smiled pleasantly, relieved. Tsunade had a lot on her plate now, so the chance to share it with her was something she wanted. She knew more than anyone Tsunade was strong, yes, but death was not something she handled well. Only a few years ago she had been consumed by hemophobia. The slightest cut had made her tremble, impairing her at her job.

It was a short drive. A rather nice restaurant. She was glad she had cleaned herself up after their little spar. Tsunade was waiting for her, already at the table. She looked great, wearing a string of pearls, along with a light pink shade of lipstick. It complimented her light green jacket and fair hair.

They greeted, made the usual light conversation after placing their orders. Waiting on their food, Sakura ventured a "How's it back at base?"

"Oh miserable," Tsunade answered, frowning. "Everyone's stretched. The Uchiha case is just so big and complicated. Then we have another possible homicide Eight is working on it. And don't even get me started on Naruto. I've had people chew me out for how that went down. At least half the council."

The council was a close-knit group of both Purge veterans, people who had been in the system for a very long time, like Danzō Shimura, former leader of the ROOTS Initiative, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado, then younger but highly involved Purge detectives, most of them head of teams, such as Kakashi, and Kurenai. Heads from different divisions as well, like Intel, with Ibiki, Inoichi, and Shikaku. These were the people who kept the Alpha in check, and almost nothing was done without a near-unanimous approval.

Sakura smiled grimly. "He was an idiot for running. Doesn't realize how dangerous it is and even if you explained it to him a hundred times, he wouldn't have listened."

"Yes," she agreed chuckling. "I like the squirt, didn't at first, he was a brat, but I got to say, he rubbed off on me." She smiled, reflecting a bit. Then her voice became serious.

"I'm worried," she said. "We've lost so many to the Akatsuki..."

Sakura frowned. "He may be an idiot but...well, he's too stubborn to just lay down and die. Trust me, you can count on that."

The Alpha laughed grimly. "True. But Sakura...I can't help think back, you do when you're Alpha. And officers become  _your_ officers. Every single one of them...Asuma. Jiraiya... Then Neji."

Her hands trembled. Neji had been the youngest officer to die in the line of duty. Not even twenty. No. He had been the youngest in recent years. Just when they had thought they had gotten to a certain place in their operations, it had happened. A fallen comrade.

Sakura swallowed. How heavy it must have been for her as their leader. But she was going to step down soon, surely. The mantle...and burden would fall on someone else.

"Have you picked your successor yet?" Sakura asked quietly.

Tsunade nodded after a while. "It's taken care of. But still...I can only pray for the best."

_-xxx-_

He awoke with a jolt, gasping. Everything coming back to him as his sudden inability to move struck him. His back, sore, something jammed against it. No, he was leaned against it. A pole of some sort, his arms looped behind it and bound tightly. He was on his rear. Sitting on concrete, legs sprawled out in front of him.

Crap. He had been captured.

Then why was he still alive?

Shaking his head to clear it, he blinked a few times, or rather, tried to pry his eyes open but they resisted against a bulk of fabric, tight against his eyelids.

His mind filled with a mix of a cursing fervor and sheer panic. He was blind and therefore had no clue where he was!

He strained to move, to moves his hands, a helpless plight that only hurt his wrists, so he soon settled on focusing his hearing. Voices.

Zetsu.

Deidara.

Sasori.

Kakazu.

They all had one thing in common: the Akatsuki.

So it  _was_  them, they were together again.

And a new one. Sounded like through a speaker. Or speakerphone. All were intended to hear the conversation then. A leader, perhaps?

He couldn't decipher who it belonged to but that didn't matter. All he needed to know was that for sure the Akatsuki were apart of this but they weren't instigating it. If not Nagato then who then, who was their new leader?

Words continued to drift:

"We had no other choice." Kakuzu. "He was going to kill Deidara. So I took the initiative."

"You wanted him anyway."

" _But not this way. This compromises the plan."_

"All do respect,  _sir_ ,—" the sir was spoken with such contentment, such mockery, Naruto could tell they didn't like the instigator, "—your plan was compromised the moment he got out."

Words continued from the speaker and again he uselessly strained to decipher who it belonged to.

No matter, he really needed to get out of here. He'd bitten off far more than he could chew, especially without help. He again tried squeezing from the tie, rubbing his wrists back and forth, his breathing hitching instinctively at his strained attempt. Agh! Was cutting into his skin! Freaking zip tie!

The voices stopped, he caught a "He's awake..." and a "take care of it, Sasori, he's not here yet". This was before a set of hands latched onto him and stuffed something in his face, a cloth.

It didn't take a genius to figure out it had been drugged with something.

Naruto struggled as hard as he could, twisting around, holding his breath, anything to not be put under again but a set of hard fingers dug into his jaw, forcing his head to remain still and his nostrils and mouth entrapped by the cloth. He tried to cry out, but the need to breath overdrove his fight and he found himself falling into a deep, deep abyss.

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

**Be here tomorrow for the next part!**

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